Broadway residents, businesses voice concerns over BRT routes

Nutana-area residents and business owners are still concerned about the idea of having a bus-rapid-transit system (BRT) coming down Broadway Avenue.

That's the message city council heard Monday afternoon when they discussed possible routes and dedicated runningways for the BRT.

Dee-Ann Mercier, the executive director of the Broadway Business Improvement District (BID), told council they need more information and consultation.

The city is looking into options for the BRT that include buses having dedicated lanes on Broadway and travelling down Third Avenue. They are also looking athaving buses travel with traffic on Broadway and then Third Avenue, or having buses travel down Sid Buckwold Bridge and along First Avenue in front of Midtown Plaza.

If speakers at council are any indication, virtually no one in the Broadway areawants a dedicated bus lane.

Many Broadway-area residents and Broadway business owners were on hand to argue against a BRT route down Bradway to Third Avenue downtown.

"The vast consensus already is that the dedicated running lanes [on Broadway] are out," Mercier said.

"The BID is not opposed to the the bus-rapid-transit going down Broadway. We are opposed to dedicated running lanes at this time."

Mercier said people understand that the city is growing and needs an improved transit system.

"[But] it is about getting the details right now, about choosing the routes and how they will affect neighbourhoods really on a block by block scale," she said.

Residents can find out more about the proposed BRT at a public meeting on Nov. 8.

The come-and-go community consultation will go from 3-8 p.m. at Emmanuel Anglican Church on the corner of Dufferin Ave and 12th Street.

"We really want to be able to look at each of [the routes] and see what does the pedestrian realm look like, what does it look like for cars, where is the parking, how does it look for buses, how does it look for bicycles. To really dig down into the nitty gritty," Mercier said.

The city will hold a number of public consolations on the BRT before recommendations are given to council sometime in the new year.