Bike lanes, On-street Parking and Business: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto’s Bloor West Village
This report discussed the reallocation of street use from on-street parking to active transportation infrastructure, such as widened sidewalks or bike lanes.
Such conversion have become a controversial issue in many cities over the past several decades. The research finds that opposition to such changes is often based on the assumption that on-street parking is vital to business and that removing on-street parking will decrease customer numbers and therefore commercial activity.
However, the report also finds that cities are becoming increasingly interested in providing space for active transportation, citing the health, safety and environmental benefits as primary catalysts. Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business was conceived as a research study to investigate the attitudes of merchants to the reallocation of street use from on-street parking to active transportation infrastructure, to test assumptions about modal share and economic activity, and to gauge merchants’ and residents’ preferences for changes in street use allocation.
This report presents the findings of surveys of 96 merchants and 510 visitors in Bloor West Village.
