Replacing lost parking spots a must: BID
Bike lanes would wipe out 101 spots
Brittany Berge gave a horrified gasp when she heard the city’s protected bike lane plan would mean the loss of 101 downtown parking spots.
“I feel like it’s already hard enough to find a parking spot when I come to work,” said the barista at Mystic Java on Fourth Avenue.
“I’m driving around block after block just to find a spot. If we lose 100 spots, then where is everybody supposed to go?”
Saskatoon’s downtown “cannot afford” that loss, said the board chair of the downtown business improvement district (BID).
Increased bike traffic does bring “vibrancy” to the area, but losing so much parking is too high a price to pay, Dave Denny said.
“Convenience of parking is one of the most essential drivers of our success.”
Timing is the key issue, Denny said. While the city has long-term plans to greatly increase capacity by encouraging construction of multi-level parking garages, the bike lanes would be installed as early as this summer if council approves the plan on Tuesday.
The BID has been working with the city to find shortterm solutions, “so that every one of those hundred spots that we lose will be made up,” Denny said.
Those solutions could include more angled parking — in front of the Frances Morrison Library, along Second Avenue, or at the soonto-be-vacated police station — encouraging private lots to open to the public at night, and adding new metered parking spots of varying sizes to allow a larger number of small vehicles to squeeze in.
In the medium term, Denny said there should be a park-and-ride lot, perhaps in the warehouse district, where downtown workers could park and take a shuttle to work, freeing up more spaces for customers.
The BID would feel comfortable if these options were implemented in conjunction with bike lanes, he said.
Elwood Flynn, owner of a clothing store at 21st Street and Third Avenue, said the downtown needs as much parking as it can get.
Finding a space can already be tough, and the loss of a hundred spots might drive people away from the downtown to shopping centres with free and plentiful parking, he said.
“People might not like to hear that, but I think we need as much parking downtown to keep people coming here.”
Darren Toews, general manager of the Saskatoon Club, said the city’s bike lane plan may mean club members have to struggle to find parking for club events.
The parking lot next to the club is already filled with staff from Court of Queen’s Bench while the courthouse is renovated, he said.
Toews also sees little likelihood of economic spinoff from cyclists, due to the long, cold winter.
“Should we accommodate them? Yes, have bike lanes by all means. But let’s not inconvenience the majority of people for the sake of what is in all likelihood a minority of commuters downtown.”
But Sean Shaw, with Saskatoon Cycles, said those benefits could flow from the primary goal of safer cycling, which would encourage more people. Studies from Seattle, Vancouver and New York show “substantial increases” in economic activity along bike lanes, as slower-travelling cyclists are more likely to stop at businesses, he said.
Minnesota, though chilly, is actually one of the best places to cycle in North America because cycling areas around the city are connected, he said. Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg also have substantial cycling plans.