Sud-Ouest REV branch opens
CTV has some odd coverage of the opening of a branch of the REV bike lane system in Sud‑Ouest borough. The item runs like this:
1. The bike path opened and cyclists are happy
2. Denis Coderre will be re-elected and get rid of it anyway (with a tone of inevitability)
3. Some businesses on St-Denis, kilometres away from the story at hand, don’t like the loss of parking spots
Is this what’s called balanced reporting?
Admittedly Metro, which covered a few details CTV missed, also evokes the possibility the REV may be short-lived if Coderre comes back and reclaims more space for the car.
One of the angles Metro covers is that the city engineers’ strike had delayed the REV opening. Engineers also showed up for the presser about the city’s St-Jean plans.
jeather 08:31 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
They added bike lanes to St-Jacques (good) but left the parking lanes (bad) and then after about a week they just closed the bike lanes for, as far as I can tell, no reason.
DeWolf 10:17 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
Wow, sorry CTV, but that’s a really shoddy piece of work. “Critics say…” followed by quote from a single shopowner who makes a couple of ludicrous claims.
First she claims that she receives a dozen calls from clients every week who say they can’t shop at her place because they can’t find parking. I’m on St-Denis almost every day and there is always, always parking available. Both on-street and in the large off-street lot at Drolet/Marie-Anne.
And then she speaks on behalf of the fire department saying that fire trucks can’t turn onto St-Denis because they get stuck in traffic! I’ve seen multiple emergency vehicles travel down St-Denis without a problem. It’s frankly irresponsible for CTV to include that quote without actually running it by the fire department to verify it’s true.
walkerp 10:19 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
Note the constant car ads on the CTV website. Coincidence?
DeWolf 10:35 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
Something that just came to mind: Last fall, one of the loudest critics of the REV was the owner of Maisonnette, a restaurant on St-Denis. He made all the usual claims that the bike path would destroy the street, put him out of business, and he even indulged in some goofy theatrics like offering discounts to any “cyclist” who dined at his restaurant and vocally expressed their support for the REV. Thing is, it was all for show, because his restaurant was already going belly-up. It closed permanently weeks before REV construction even started. He was taking the piss the whole time. Basically a real-life internet troll.
There are legitimate issues with the REV, as with any public works project. But some people just like seeing their name in the paper and some people are looking for something or somebody to blame for their business that is failing either because of the pandemic or because it no longer meets the needs of the market.
Jonathan 17:07 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
I never considered calling a store that is too difficult to reach to let them know I am shopping somewhere else. I wonder how many other stores have received *dozens* of *calls* from people driving around saying they are no longer planning on visiting the store.
su 18:00 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
I was on the REV last week. There is parking all along, adjacent to the path. The bike traffic lights are an excellent solution to bike vs. car incidents. I did not see any cyclists blasting through the bike red!
Blork 18:30 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
Yeah, there are parking places, for sure. Some were removed to fit the road and sidewalk changes, but it’s not like there was some wholesale removal of parking spots. My only complaint was that (in typical Quebec fashion) the indications are confusing and illegible, at least in some places. This is based on my one experience maybe six weeks ago when I pulled into an available space on St-Denis and then was completely unable to determine whether or not it was a legitimate parking space. I don’t remember the details, but it was very ambiguous and frustrating.
DeWolf 18:38 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
My personal gripes:
The ambiguous parking signage that Blork mentioned, which leads many people to park in areas where they infringe on the bike path
The lack of consistent traffic signals. Some intersections have a solid red arrow to prevent cars from turning right when cyclists have priority, while others have a green arrow (straight) followed by a solid green (turns allowed) which is sometimes ignored by drivers who then cut off or ram straight into cyclists (it’s happened).
But that hardly outweighs the benefits, which is a generally harmonious co-existence between pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in a street that is now so much more pleasant to visit.
su 18:41 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
I think what is being complained about, is specifically the loss of Double Parking spots which are not really parking spaces anyway.
qatzelok 11:55 on 2021-06-22 Permalink
Kate, I’ve been circling around for two hours looking for a place to park a comment in this thread.
I may be forced to start commenting on the Laval City Weblog.