Masson may be site of new experiment
Rue Masson may become the site of a new pedestrianization experiment in which buses continue to use the street but other motor traffic is disallowed, at least during summertime. Pedestrianizing Masson was already announced a year ago but it’s still got to be approved by the street’s merchants.
j 10:00 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
Hmmm. This wouldn’t be the first time, as reported in the article. A similar experiment took place on avenue Mont Royal in the early 80s (or maybe late 70s?) And it was deemed too dangerous because ppl often didn’t look for high speed busses when crossing the street.
Shawn 10:08 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
I believe they do it successfully on Granville Street in Vancouver, for one. Although there is — or was, when I was there — a very clear curb. And the street itself is kind of cooly laid out in a “wavy” path, too. It’s interesting.
David Tighe 10:58 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
Why does the decision to reserve streets for pedestrians always have to depend totally on the acceptance of the businesses bordering it? Pedestrianized streets are for people and if they want to benefit it is up to them to provide goods and services that people want. In any case, I am quite sure that the development of the vast pedestrian complexes of most city centres in Europe was not driven by the businesses around them. In any case, the businesses who, in the past, opposed the few we have usually found that they had been wrong.
Stefan 11:23 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
i think bus traffic could be slowed to 15-20km/h. anyway there will be people in the street, so they won’t be able to go very fast.
david: the pedestrianization of kaernter strasse in vienna in the 60s faced to the same opposition by the merchants. only when the street needed to be closed for construction of the metro, they saw that there was no problem and the street was never reopened to cars. so, in europe we face exactly the same problems, except that now there are more models.
merchants are well-organized in the SDCs (as we have seen in the protests in the plateau), and are concerned with immediate and short-term losses, therefore think very short-term. the residents do not speak with a single voice, their opinion is much harder to poll and registers less. so politicians are scared to lose some merchants in what seems already a very competitive environment (free and guaranteed parking in the malls at the highways) …
Kate 11:46 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
I think it’s partly the fact that so many business owners in town are vividly aware they’re in competition with ones in the suburbs that offer unlimited, unmetered parking to their customers. If they feel threatened by the removal of motor traffic in front of their door they’re likely to kick. In some cases the creation of a pedestrian walkway might be good for them but they can probably find cases where it hasn’t been (I’ve read that most Village business owners like the pedestrianization of Ste-Catherine in the summer, but some don’t, and presumably they have their reasons).
David Tighe 13:03 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
I realize why merchants oppose more or less automatically but I still don’t see why their voice should have 100% weight. It is for the administration to verify public opinion and then confirm acceptability (financial and social) with studies and perhaps a pilot. If they show that financial losses exceed the general advantage then so be it
Stefan 13:38 on 2011/05/27 Permalink
here are more details about the project, i.e. 15km/h for buses and weekend pedestrianization only: http://ruemasson.com/?p=9528 including discussion with the mayor (f. croteau)
i think weekend-only is a clever strategy to convince the merchants of an eventual week-long pedestrianization. however there the residents are also concerned that all the traffic/parking will go into their side streets … even if they will provide several parking lots. some people will always complain about changes, so it seems best to confront them with those.