General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[danbrotherston]

I still think of this pedestrian mall in Denver - with transit buses going down the centre on the paving stones. It was delightful and would fit King St so well.

That's amazing,  that's exactly what we need.  less the busses. We don't need the busses..

Are there buses on King St. now? I can't remember.

FWIW I think Arnhem has buses through it's pedestrianized core (when we there in 2016 anyway...it was Arnhem or Nijmegen). I would lose them I think, it is pretty disruptive and means you must reserve a significant empty space. It also isn't particularly conducive to cycling. The pedestrian street in Amersfoort prohibits cycling during shopping hours, not that cycling is particularly feasible in the crowds.

There are many North American examples of this though...several in Montreal, Spark St. in Ottawa, 8th Ave in Calgary. And those are only the ones I've actually visited.

Frankly, places which don't have it almost stand out more...KW, London, Byward Market in Ottawa, Pikes Place in Seattle, Granville Island in Vancouver...these places are clearly plain as day suited to have car free streets, and yet politicians push back and squirm against it despite the clear logic of it, and proven model even in North America (or even in the same city!). It really makes you wonder who is really pulling the strings? Do the minority of angry drivers really have that much influence? Why are mayors like Cam Guthrie and John Bauters seemingly not affected by this, and how can we get them to run our city?