South Osborne shop owner not on board with bus stop

A Winnipeg business owner says a bus stop directly in front of her store is impacting her bottom line. Jeff Keele has more.

A South Osborne business owner isn’t on board with a bus stop directly in front of her shop, saying it has taken away valuable street parking impacting her sales.

Lee Heywood and her husband used to park right in front of Black Market Provisions on South Osborne to grab a quick bite to eat. Now they have to drive around back and use the parking lot.

“Not quite as quick as when we used to be able to park in front and run in,” said Heywood.

The on-street parking is gone because of a temporary bus stop, which was moved from just down the street due to construction on that block.

Black Market Provisions owner Alana Fiks said the loss of parking is impacting her bottom line. Now she’s learned the bus stop is permanent.

“It really is deterring customers from coming in mostly because they can’t park out front anymore,” said Fiks.

She said it’s causing other concerns as well. She has to pick up garbage daily. She also noted there is no bus shelter, so people use her entrance which impedes staff and intimidates customers.

“We’ve had two attempted break-ins, our outdoor camera has been removed from the building, we’ve had various people using the side of our building as a bathroom,” said Fiks.

She is urging the city to move the stop north of her shop.

Area councillor Sherri Rollins tabled a motion calling on the city make this happen.

“I have not seen an ear that understands the impacts that have been on this business,” said Rollins.

However, city officials say the stop is staying put. They told the public works committee moving it further north is too far for bus riders and would interfere with a nearby fire paramedic station entrance.

They say moving this bus stop permanently in front of the shop was always part of the plan. Under the new transit route alignment bus stops are being shifted from before an intersection to after, to improve safety and efficiency.

“You know you pull up to an intersection and there’s a bus in front of you, is the bus going? Is it loading or unloading? Or is it waiting? And you pull out and you’re at an intersection,” said Public Works Committee Chair Janice Lukes.

The committee decided to hold up the motion, in order to give city officials and Fiks time to meet and talk about the bus stop.