Councillors, cyclists want safer bike parking in Ottawa

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Cycling advocates and some city councillors are concerned that Ottawa’s Public Works Department plans to cut $100,000 from what it spends on bike parking, a 25 per cent reduction from previous years.

In its 2023 annual report on parking services, presented Thursday to the city’s transportation committee, the department said it plans to spend $300,000 annually on bicycle parking from 2025 to 2028, down from the current $400,000 .

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Somerset Ward Earl. Ariel Troster was among those who said the cut is the wrong move for a city trying to encourage more people to choose two wheels instead of four.

“There is a huge problem in Centretown and there is a huge demand, not just for parking, but for safe parking,” Troster said.

“People are very afraid to leave their bike outside all day when they are at work. It really concerns me to see cuts to a program that people are desperately asking us to expand.”

Troster said she recently heard from a resident that his entire family’s bicycles had been stolen from a backyard shed for the second time.

The advocacy group Bike Ottawa added its voice to the issue in a letter to committee members.

“While the city is moving in the right direction, this is not the time to slow down,” the letter said. “We regularly hear from residents that they don’t take the rides they want to take because they don’t feel safe locking their bikes and leaving them behind.”

In his presentation to the committee, Scott Caldwell, manager of parking services, said budget pressures are the reason for the cut. While parking revenues have returned to pre-pandemic levels, rising costs are eating into the department’s resources.

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“The reality of what our capital expenditures have been and what is expected to be over the next few years, $300,000, is more in line with what is achievable given our existing resources,” Caldwell said.

“We remain committed to bicycle parking and are even excited about it… but our conclusion is that there is capacity to spend $300,000 a year.”

The city currently has approximately 5,600 bicycle parking spaces.

The cut to bike parking came at the same time the city decided to end free on-street parking in the Westboro and Wellington West areas, an irony not lost on Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine.

“Even if we say, ‘Hey Kichissippi, we’re going to change your life here. We’re going to take away your free parking spot. We want you to think of new ways to get to work. But we’re not going to put the new bike locker there, the one that you need and that we say we want,” Devine said.

Bicycle cages are not cheap. Caldwell said the city spent $100,000 to purchase three cages a few years ago. The other difficulty is finding space to put them, he said.

Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said she learned to appreciate bike lockers after items were stolen from her bike while it was locked at City Hall. There is now a locked cage in City Hall for city employees.

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“It’s a necessity. It’s peace of mind. You can lock a car, but a bicycle is very vulnerable,” said Kavanagh. “If you’re going to use it as a means of transportation, you need security.”

She said safety is especially important at LRT stations for commuters who want to bike to the train.

“If I’m going to cycle to a station and leave my bike there all day, I want to know if it’s safe,” she says.

Caldwell said the decision to cut $100,000 from bike parking is not yet final and will be reviewed and assessed during the city’s budget process in the fall.

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