The Bank Street bus lanes delay proves the City of Ottawa can’t even do easy things

The Bank Street Transit Study is over a year behind schedule

The City of Ottawa has proven once again this week that they are unable to do things in a timely or efficient manner. The Bank Street Transit Study was once again delayed, with the next open house pushed back to Fall 2025 according to their website. This means we almost certainly won’t get bus lanes until at least 2026.

A full year of Delay

A wayback machine screenshot from January 2024, showing that the 2nd open house was scheduled for Fall 2024. It’s now been pushed to September 2025.

The first open house was held in June 2024, with the second one planned just a few months later in Fall 2024. Multiple delays later, the city has publicly appeared to do basically nothing on the issue for a full year.

Private Communications no Better

Behind the scenes, communication has been just as non-existent. After the Centretown Community Association sent a letter in support of bus lanes on Bank Street, we were informed by the project manager that a community stakeholder meeting was planned for April 2025. Over two months later now, that meeting has still not happened.

Further Delays at Committee

What’s frustrating is that just a few weeks ago the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee voted to (in my opinion) further prolong the study, directing staff to review the traffic impacts of any changes on Bank Street on nearby community streets. We delegated against the issue, pointing it out as a delay tactic and that the project was already well behind schedule. Despite staff saying the motion would likely not impact the timeline, I simply don’t believe that when the project is over a year behind schedule already. The motion for additional study impact passed unanimously and there was little discussion on why the study has been so delayed in the first place.

The Changes are Simple

The most concerning part about these delays is that adding bus lanes on Bank Street could be a relatively simple process. Bank Street already has four lanes and would need minimal infrastructure changes, it’s already the busiest bus corridor in the city with over 100,000 riders, and bus lanes on Bank Street have broad community support.

In a time where the City and OC Transpo are short on money, we should be fast tracking a project that will likely lower operating costs and increase ridership. If implementing bus lanes on Bank Street is this difficult, good luck to any future transit projects, like the Baseline BRT (which was preliminarily approved in 2017!)

The Community is Growing Impatient

There’s been a big push recently against the delays and for the faster implementation of bus lanes on Bank Street. At Strong Towns Ottawa, we recently sponsored the Marquee at the Mayfair to show our support for bus lanes. Even Brigil, a developer, wrote recently that they support bus lanes in the area.

If you’ve had enough of the city taking seemingly forever to accomplish simple things, please considering emailing the project manager and your councillor that you support bus lanes on Bank Street and that the delays have been too long.