Strong Towns Ottawa

@strongtownsottawa.ca

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https://linktr.ee/strongtownsottawa We're an urbanist group, focused on safer streets, giving citizens more options, and creating a more financially responsible city. Help us support bus lanes on Bank St: strongtownsottawa.ca/bank

An ad from OCOBIA (Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas) that says they strongly support improving transit to help support local economies and to strengthen communities.
A poster for the documentary "Dude, Where's My Bus?" by Gio Petti, showing an OC Transpo bus which has a sign at the back saying "A look at Ottawa's messy transit system".
Asphalt paved over the sidewalk of a bulbout on Cartier street, previously this was covered with grass
Members sit around in a circle discussing Human Transit at the monthly book club
E-mail from the Glebe BIA about the Great Glebe Garage Sale, recommending people to take the bus, walk, or bike to the Garage Sale
A poster for Strong Towns Ottawa's monthly social gathering, this month, on Friday, May 22nd, 2026, from 7pm onwards, at Braumeister Bierhalle, 175 Carruthers Ave.
Strong Towns Ottawa members sitting around tables at their monthly social gathering
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa standing around the meeting room participating in the icebreaker where they introduce themselves to each other
Image of a patio where parking would be in front of Pure Kitchen on Elgin Street in Ottawa
Illustrative option A2 – Implement additional transit priority measures Some of the transit priority measures identified in the Transportation Master Plan – Part 2 (ACS2025-PDB-TP-0012), or measures identified through other work, could be introduced through one-time funding. To improve travel times and reduce variability of bus service, funding could be invested in transit priority measures, such as:
Side-by-side comparison of Montreal Road in 2015 vs 2022. Top (2015): A busy, slightly worn streetscape with multiple cars. Bottom (2022): The same view after a new protected bike lane was added. It shows a streetscape with widened sidewalks, new paving, benches, and a bus stop.
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa at a couple tables for their April Monthly social gathering
An invitation to the Tewin open house on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, from 6:30-8:30 pm, at Carlsbad Springs Community Centre, 6020 Piperville Rd., Ottawa, ON
Google Earth of Bank Street and the Glebe with a ruler showing the length of Bank street at about 1305 metres.
A picture of the building at 267 O'Connor, which is mostly just a rectangular brick building with a very large parking lot sitting beside it.
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa pose for a picture after the April Monthly Meeting
A map of the congestion happening in the city of Ottawa at around noon on a Friday. There is a red circle around the section of Bank Street in the Glebe which shows significant delays. The rest of the map is almost all fully green with no delays.
Graph showing the hours where the bus lanes would be in effect going Northbound for the pilot before and after Menard's motion, which cut down the hours by 33% (1 hr of the 3hrs)
Video shows Shawn Menard describing his recent motion to gut the hours of the Bank Street Bus Lane pilot by saying "it's cleaning up a few things around data collection in particular".
Motion brought forth to council by Councillor Menard, which sought to restrict the bus lanes on Bank Street from 3 hours in each peak direction to 2 hours.
Darrell Cox, executive director of the Glebe BIA, at the Lansdowne 2.0 discussions saying he thinks it's a wonderful idea to have even day bus lanes to get transit to Lansdowne more reliable.
An older aerial picture of Lansdowne before much of the newer changes, when most of the lot was a large parking lot near the stadium.
An image of a stroad, lots of stores/shops on the side of a very wide road with lots of cars on it.
A collage of images from Strong Towns Ottawa efforts to support 24/7 bus lanes on Bank Street
The first page of a letter from Strong Towns Ottawa to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, sent on March 24th, 2026. The letter makes the argument that our transit system is in a crisis and our city needs to be bold because of that. The asks are to implement the pilot project by summer of 2026, not 2027, to extend dedicated bus lanes to weekends and events, to operate bus lanes in both directions, and to extend the hours to at minimum 6am-6pm, and ideally to 24/7. The full letter can be found here : https://strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/24/open-letter-bus-lanes-on-bank-street.html
Two pedestrians walking on the road on Cedarview road, which has no sidewalks
Section of the city staff report for Bus Lanes on Bank Street that says "Ultimately, bus lane hours extending beyond these peak periods, and in the off-peak direction, are recommended, including during a greater number of Lansdowne events and on weekends."
View from inside a bus. There are many cars in front of the bus.
Text taken from the City of Ottawa's report for bus lanes on Bank Street with the following text : "Travel times are longest during major events, up to 18 minutes, when the high volume of buses, passenger drop-offs, staging, and increased pedestrian and vehicle activity affect both event attendees and other road users traveling through the corridor." The text "Travel times are longest during major events, up to 18 minutes" has been highlighted in yellow
The number 6 bus is shown driving along Bank Street in front of a sign at the Mayfair Theatre. The sign reads "Mayfairtheatre.ca Support bus lanes on bank st Strongtownsottawa.ca"
A letter from the Centretown Community Association to Lise Guèvremont in support of expanding the study for bus lanes on Bank Street. The letter reads : "While we are optimistic for the Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority Feasibility Study, we believe the most recent public proposal does not go far enough to prioritize public transportation and move as many people as possible. The Centretown Community Association would like to make the following suggested changes to the Bank Street Transit Study: - Bus lanes should be bi-directional whenever in use and the city should consider expanding the duration of active bus lanes. - The number of 24/7 bus lane sections should be expanded. - There should be more frequent use of transit priority signals throughout Bank Street. - The definition of large events requiring bus lanes should be expanded to include events like 613flea and Ottawa Charge games. - Signage should be improved to direct drivers to the 2nd Avenue parking garage. As OC Transpo faces reliability and confidence issues, we need to prioritize fast and reliable public transit. Bus lanes are a great way to reduce operating costs, speed up travel times, and increase the number of people that will ride the bus. We would also love to see the city lean into the pilot project aspect of the Bank Street Transit Study. Once implemented, we believe the project should be reviewed within the first six months with consideration taken to increase bus lane durations and to expand bus lane locations, including into Centretown. As the busiest bus corridor in the city, we need to be maximizing the efficiency of bus travel to ensure traffic flows smoothly and reliably. A reminder that the City's own data collected outlined that 77% of respondents want more space for people outside of private vehicles on Bank Street. Thank you, Robert Dekker CCA President"
A page from the Glebe BIA Retail Market and Gap Analysis Final Report. The highlighted section says " The analysis concluded that even if on-street parking were removed along Bank St, there would still be parking available on side streets and in the parkades; however, the businesses who participated in the study perceived there to be an inadequate supply of parking. The study posited that the perceived lack of parking is likely due to the underutilization and lack of awareness about the existing parking garages, which cost the same or less than on￾street parking along Bank St."
An OC Transpo #6 bus in a bus lane. Inside of the bus there are multiple people, each with a text showing what they're going to be doing. They say "Grabbing a bite to eat", "Going to Lansdowne", "Getting a haircut", "Bought groceries", and "Can finally fit on the bus". The final one was a user in a wheelchair. Beside the bus there is a single person in a truck in the regular travel lane. Pointing to him it says "Just driving through". They have a thought bubble coming out from their head saying "That bus lane is going to ruin local business!".
The image depicts two pie graphs, the first at the top shows customer responses to their primary mode of travel to the Glebe. 62% selected walking, 14% by car, 13% by bike, 11% by public transit, and 4 respondents (0%) by other. Below is another pie graph but this time from how business owners believe that customers primarily get to their shops. 94% of business owners believe that cars were the main mode of transportation for their customers, 6% responded walking.
Strong towns Ottawa members at the February monthly social gathering
Strong Towns Ottawa members pose for a picture after the February 2026 monthly meeting
People at Braumeister Bierhalle for Strong Towns Ottawa's January 2026 social
Poster for the Strong Towns Ottawa Social gathering, January 30th 2026, from 7pm at Braumeister Bierhall, 175 Carruthers Ave.
Binder for the Case Competition with board member Marko Miljusevic's name on the front as a judge
Board members of Strong Towns Ottawa Derrick Simpson and Marko Miljusevic stand beside 3 Carleton students that took part in the BPAPM competition, as well as City of Ottawa Councillor Laura Dudas
Photo of members of the Ottawa Urbanism Book Club sitting around in a circle
Board Member Marko Miljusevic of Strong Towns Ottawa at the front of a class speaking to students for Carleton University's Case Competition around Bank Street.
Surprised pikachu face
Members show up to discuss Bus lanes on bank street at Strong Towns Ottawa's monthly meeting in January 2026
The QED packed with cars waiting to enter the Lansdowne garage on a Charge game day
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa posing for a picture in front of the bus at Lansdowne!
Image of a tweet saying "To explain zoning to my family, for holiday dinner I'm gonna ask to put salads on one table, drinks on another, sides on a third table and the main dish in the living room. Then watch the traffic chaos as everyone tries to eat. That's how suburbs create traffic out of thin air."
Cars stuck in standstill traffic on Bank Street
The first page of Sharon Nyangweso's article talking about incremental developments in Beechwood, and how it is necessary to not lock our city's in time by opposing incremental change.
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa at the December monthly meeting
A letter from POP that discusses how the City of Ottawa budget affects affordability.