Bikes on Bloor

Here’s a study that asks businesses along Bloor Street how they’d feel about losing parking for a bike lane.

The results are not what you’d likely guess:

 … Bloor Annex [in Toronto] is a very busy commercial corridor ….  The survey data shows that most business owners do not believe that the majority of their customers drive to their business. In fact, only 4% of businesses believe that more than 50% of their customers drive to their business, and almost three-quarters of businesses believe that less than 25% of customers drive to their business. Therefore, according to most merchants (71%), any change to the parking situation in the Bloor Annex would affect at most 25% of their customer base.

“On the question of installing a bike lane and removing half the on almost 75% of businesses thought their business would improve or stay the same, while slightly more than 25% thought the change would bring in fewer customers.

“On the question of widening the sidewalk and removing parking, the results were almost the same, with only 25% of merchants believing the change would hurt business. The data shows that more merchants think that bike lanes and wider sidewalks would increase business than decrease it.”

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