One Alberta tourist town has seen enough of patios cordoned off by bulky barriers.
What happened: Banff residents narrowly voted this week to end the car-free zone on Banff Avenue — the city’s main downtown street. For the past four years, a two-block stretch has been turned into a pedestrian-only zone between the May long weekend and Thanksgiving.
- The main gripe from critics is that the zone shifted downtown traffic to residential areas. Parks Canada called on the town to end the zone earlier this year.
Elsewhere, car-free areas and roadside patios are growing in popularity, receiving both praise and scorn.
- Montréal has seen immense success with car-free zones, expanding them to 11 streets this summer and making parts of Old Montréal permanently pedestrianized.
- But Vancouver’s first car-free zone, which debuted in Gastown this summer, elicited mixed results. Some vendors claim they’ve suffered up to a 30% drop in business.
- In Toronto, roadside patio project CaféTO has been criticized by restaurants and even united two natural enemies — drivers and cyclists — in mutual hatred.
Bottom line: Banff’s reversal highlights the tensions around how and where pedestrian zones are implemented. Car-free zones are pitched as a way to cut congestion and stimulate spending, but execution matters to deliver on these goals.—QH