Ideas for Ottawa's Nightlife Council
Ottawa is currently choosing its Nightlife Council, a group that will work with the Night Mayor to improve Ottawa’s nightlife. I’ve submitted an application for the council, below is a list of ideas I’d push for if chosen for the night council.
I’ve previously shared my anything is possible ideas for the night mayor, but those are really more council’s job. This list below is much more realistic:
Better wayfinding and maps
A great way to get people to businesses is to make sure they know the businesses are there. Ottawa has a few pedestrian focused maps, but having more of them, and highlighting specific businesses on the maps would be very useful.
In Street Fight by Janette Sadik-Khan they talk about how useful adding maps was to improving New York’s walkability, and in improving the experience for tourists.
“Cities that do not offer basic orientation for pedestrian visitors miss an opportunity to enlarge foot traffic that infuses the tourist and ground-floor retail economy.” (page 132)
The good news is that Ottawa already has maps like this! Improving them with more landmarks and adding more maps, especially to less walkable areas, would be very helpful. Night council should work with BIAs to get this set up.
Increase mobility options
Until Ottawa can get a bike share, we need to significantly improve Ottawa’s e-scooter program. The rides are too expensive, the scooters are too slow, and there aren’t enough scooters. My recommendations:
Slightly subsidize the cost of scooters to bring down the price. Right now they cost about the same as an uber, which makes them an unrealistic option.
Raise the maximum scooter speed above 20 km/h. Private scooters are limited to 30 km/h, the city’s should be able to go at least 25 km/h.
Make the scooters available later, including after last call.
Consider increasing the number of e-scooters available. Ottawa has about 900 scooters. Montreal’s bike share has 10,000 bikes (This also shows why we need a bike share).
Back in the Spring I paid $7.47 for a scooter ride from Elgin Street to the Glebe, the same trip in an Uber would’ve costed $7.82. Until we can lower the prices the scooters are not a real option, especially for groups.
Dedicated rideshare/taxi drop off zones
Many times while biking or in a car on Elgin Street I’ve been blocked by Ubers dropping off passengers in the middle of the road. This slows down traffic, frustrates drivers, and increases the chances of bikers getting doored.
I’d like to see select parking spots converted to dedicated ride sharing and taxi stops, with a very short stopping limit. This would increase safety and improve traffic flow.
More bike lockers in designated nightlife zones
Ottawa has installed secure bike lockers for residents, which is great news. To encourage more people to visit bars and nightlife areas like Elgin Street, Ottawa should install even more secure bike lockers.
Lockers are currently available in the Glebe (Second Avenue), Centretown (Slater), and the Byward Market (Clarence). This is a great start, and I’m excited and hoping that Ottawa opens more.
It’d be great to be able to bike to a bar and know that whether you bike home that night or decide to take the bus or call an Uber, that your bike will be much safer and more secure than if locked to a traditional bike rack.
Thanks for reading and please consider sharing your ideas to improve Ottawa’s nightlife below.
I like all your ideas, Derrick, except the one about increasing the speed limits for scooters. I now see them zip by at incredible speeds (e.g. on the bicycle path on O'Connor), unsafely imo. As for bike sharing, I'd first want to know why it works in Montreal (if it does) and why an earlier attempt here -- sponsored by the NCC, I believe -- failed; I saw no bike sharing racks this summer.
Wayfinding signs is what BIAs could really get behind -- inclusive, and at multiple points.
For sure Ottawa needs better mobility and way finding. No reasonable person questions that. When I think of cities that do nightlife well, though, and when I’ve experienced them, it wasn’t because there was a designated Uber drop off location. I can think of a lot of reasons why those places were fun at night, but in order to need to use a scooter past 11pm I need a reason to be there past 11pm in the first place.