New no stopping sign on Dalhousie Street upsetting small businesses

Small business owners in the ByWard Market are upset over a new no-stopping sign that eliminates parking spots on Dalhousie Street.

A new no stopping sign on Dalhousie Street is upsetting small businesses in the ByWard Market because it’s led to fewer parking spots by storefronts.

“I saw a lot of cars receiving parking tickets,” said Pierre Ibrahim, the owner of Optique Prestige. “We didn’t have any notice and nobody knew about it. It was something that it just came out of nowhere.”

The City of Ottawa told CTV News in a statement Thursday that the changes are necessary, citing OC Transpo’s upcoming New Ways to Bus.

“The changes to the allocation of road space on Dalhousie Street are required to both accommodate safe and efficient transit operations associated with OC Transpo’s upcoming New Ways to Bus network service change, as well as to mitigate existing transit service reliability concerns along this important corridor. None of these changes include bus parking,” said Katrina Camposarcone-Stubbs, public information officer, Transit Services.

“South of Murray Street, ‘no-parking’ regulations will be expanded on both sides of Dalhousie Street to accommodate safe and efficient transit vehicle right turns from eastbound Murray Street to southbound Dalhousie Street. This new transit movement is required as a result of a routing change to OC Transpo Route 9 included in the New Ways to Bus network change.

“Between St. Patrick Street and Murray Street, existing parking along the southern segment of the area is being reallocated to provide a dedicated southbound left-turn lane. This change will allow southbound traffic to bypass stopped left-turning vehicles to reduce delays to both transit vehicles and general traffic.”

Currently, on-street parking signage and road pavement markings are being updated on Dalhousie Street, she adds, noting that they will be completed prior to the implementation of the New Ways to Bus network.

The no stopping sign has been placed in the area of 260 Dalhousie St. There used to be parking spots along the stretch of the road in the busy area of the ByWard Market.

“We might lose some customers because a lot of people like to have their car close by,” said Ibrahim. “It could be either because their wife is pregnant or they have a handicap and they need to be close to the businesses. I do have clients like that and unfortunately if they have to park further away, it might eliminate some of my customers.”

“How is this even common sense to accept this on a main artery?” JP Gorley, the owner of Opulence Coffee said. “Businesses were not consulted.”