By: Brenna Mackay

Each morning, Joey Zurakowski takes his bike out of his garage, throws on his helmet and heads off to school. His ten minute cycling commute from Old Ottawa South to Carleton University beats waiting upwards of 30 minutes for an unreliable, inconveniently located bus, he says.

Zurakowski is not alone in his choice. As more and more people in Ottawa ride their bikes to school, work and running errands, there has been a movement to make the city more bike-friendly and the roads safer, particularly in central areas located near the downtown core.

“It’s very convenient and there’s been a push to make biking more accessible and easier to do on big roads,” he explains. “As well, everyone is concerned about the environment so it’s an easy way to reduce your footprint.”

According to the 2011 Household Survey, the Capital Ward is home largest population of individuals who cite cycling as their main mode of transportation. The Capital Ward consists of neighbourhoods such as the Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Old Ottawa East, Riverside and Heron Park. The largest pockets live in Rideau Gardens, with 345 devoted cyclists, and the Glebe, with 340. In total, there are 10,800 or a little over one percent of the population of Ottawa who ride their bike to and from work. Additionally, Ottawa also has a very well established recreational bike network.

Distribution of Cycling as Primary Mode of Transportation

Created with data obtained from the 2011 National Household Survey

Zurakowski says while he generally feels safe riding his bicycle in most areas in the city, he tends to avoids major roads such as Bronson and specifically Bank.

“The fact that cars can park on the side of the road so if you’re riding your bike, you have to be in between the moving car and the parked car, I’m not too keen on that,” explains Zurakowski. “As well as Lansdowne Bridge, people just sail over that.”

David Chernushenko, the Councillor of the Capital ward, is an avid cyclist and has been an advocate for making the roads safer for bikes and cars. He explains that the draft 2017 budget has the city investing the most amount of money ever into making the city more accessible for cyclists.

A recent addition to the city’s transportation system, the bi-directional bike way on O’Connor, has made headlines after three cyclists were struck by cars within the first 20 days of opening. This has raised concerns surrounding the safety of the infrastructure design.

Chernushenko is defending the design and the decision to implement this type of bike lane.

“There’s nothing wrong with the lane’s design,” he adds. “It’s different and people have to familiarize themselves with it, both cyclist and driver.”

He says O’Connor Street was the only way the city could fit in a north-south route through downtown, and many other cities across the world have two way bike lanes that have been successful.

“Above all, it’s about speed and being alert,” says Chernushenko.

He says he hopes that these incidences will not discourage the community from riding their bikes, as accidents are rare and the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.

“People don’t stop driving because they hear about a car accident,” he concludes. “To me, it’s liberty and it’s freedom. It’s the most pleasant way to get around and enjoy a city.”

Zurakowski agrees that the bike way is a positive addition, but says it will take time for drivers to adapt.
“It’s forward thinking and encourages people to ride bikes,” says Zurakowski. “But like any bike lane, you have to make cars very aware that it’s there, especially because we have had incidents.”

Looking forward, Zurakowski says he doesn’t see himself stopping riding his bike anytime soon.

“I definitely see myself continuing to ride my bike in the future, even if I’m living in another city. I don’t like sitting in traffic and it shaves off so much time,” he says.

Low-income citizens are some of Ottawa’s biggest transit users, but experts say this access to transportation often comes at the expense of food and other basic needs.

According to an analysis of data from Statistics Canada, residents in the Bayshore area use transit almost double the amount in other parts of Ottawa. The median income in Bay ward, which contains Bayshore, was about $56,000 per household according to the 2011 National Household Survey –far below the city’s $79,000.

Ottawa Transit Users by Neighbourhood

Avalon and Bayshore neighbourhoods have the highest rate of transit users. Created with data analyzed from the 2011 National Household Survey, Statistics Canada

With an OC Transpo monthly pass costing $130, experts say the amount isn’t possible for many of the city’s residents.

“People can’t access public transit because it’s insanely expensive,” said Julie Burnett, a social worker at Legal Aid Ontario. “And there’s a loss of dignity when you can’t access transportation.”

She explained that many families on social assistance receive just $1,000 monthly from programs like Ontario Works. With rent and food to cover, this leaves little for transportation.

Katya Gallant knows this struggle. The 21-year-old Bay ward resident has been working at a data collection company to put herself through school. “It doesn’t even pay for rent,” she admitted.

Her dream to become a corporate lawyer in Germany takes a hefty blow with every bill that comes due. “It’s so stressful not to be able to make ends meet.”

Katya Gallant, a transit user in Bay ward, says the current passes are too expensive and cause stress to lower income users.

Gallant’s dilemma is quite common in Canada. About 14 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line –more than 100,000 people in Ottawa alone, according to a report from the city.

Councillor Mark Taylor, who oversees the transit-savvy Bay ward, agrees that many of his constituents fall into that category. Bay ward’s unemployment rate is nine per cent, compared to the city’s average of six per cent.

“Folks need help getting to work or getting to their education because they can’t afford it,” he said.  “They might not be on social assistance, but they still need to afford transit.”

The City of Ottawa announced this month that they will introduce a low-income transit pass for people making minimum income, which is defined as a single person making less than $20,000 annually.

Starting in April 2017, the pass will cost users $57. Half the price of a regular pass, though still more than the $42 seniors pay.

Created with data obtained from the City of Ottawa and OC Transpo.

Taylor said the cost of discounting the pass will be covered by the tax revenue the city collects each year. The city also voted to petition the provincial government for $3.3 million to support the initative. “This is not a pilot; we’ve embedded this as a full piece of the budget,” he added.

Though Gallant said she would “absolutely” use the pass when it comes out, she said she and others will still feel the financial squeeze.

“You’re still trying to decide whether you have food on the table or a bus pass,” she continued. “I’ve lived with it and it’s not healthy.”

Taylor, who also serves as deputy mayor, acknowledged Gallant’s fears saying he agrees that services for those struggling with income aren’t as well integrated as they could be.

“We are providing a patchwork quilt of services that has gaps in it,” he said, adding that as the city and province work together the gaps will slowly be filled.

Mayor Jim Watson said in a press conference he expects about 8,800 of the new transit passes to be claimed. Ottawa has one of the highest median incomes of any Canadian city and is one of the first to offer a low-income transit option.

Nate Mailhot, 22, stands at the corner of his new apartment in downtown Ottawa. He lives in the ByWard Market – almost as central as living could be in Canada’s capital. But, life wasn’t always so close to the downtown core as it is now for him.

“I used to live in Avalon during the first 4 years of my undergrad and I spent a majority of that time – or the whole time, I should say – travelling back and forth between the University of Ottawa and my home back in Orleans,” he said.

Maillot used to be one of the estimated 1700 Avalon residents who would use public transit as his primary mode of transportation to and from work. According to an analysis of data from the 2011 census, the Orleans neighbourhood has the highest concentration of people in the city using public transit as a means to get to work.

The reason, he says, for moving to his new home in the Market was because of the lack of better service provided to his community in Orleans.

“I lived a bit more in the back of Avalon, so at that point it wasn’t just a matter of walking and catching the 94, which was a quicker route,” said Mailhot. “I had to wait for a local route which ran every 30 minutes. The difference that one or two kilometres can make for transit is huge especially with the poor layout of the local routes in Ottawa.”

The pews were overflowing with people at the Ukrainian Orthodox church on 1000 Byron Ave. on Sunday. Whispers in Ukrainian and English could be heard in the background. The choir above began to sing and the room filled with sombre tones.

On this particular Sunday, the church was holding a memorial service for the death of a member of the Ukrainian community. Friends, family and many others from the local Ottawa Ukrainian community came to pay their respects. Leading the service was Father Ihor Okhrimtchouk, the priest of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral.

For many in the community, there is an inherent link between Ukrainian culture and faith. Okhrimtchouk says they are inseparable.

“Orthodoxy is not a plain faith,” says Okhrimtchouk.  “It is always tinted or coloured by the environment where it lives in. How closely are they related? They merged together—Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Same thing with Ukrainian Catholic, they merged together in that environment.”

The Ukraine-native from the village of Lanivtsi came to Canada in 1990 and settled in Winnipeg. However, the need for a priest in Ottawa brought him to the capital in 2002 where he has been ever since.

The church service interchanges between Ukrainian and English, with major aspects of the service delivered in both languages. Okhrimtchouk says observers should recognize both the Ukrainian culture and faith of the church to make the most of their experience.

“We can have Ukrainian chants, but it’s about the faith. If you don’t have the faith but just come for the cultural experience, you’re missing the major part. On the other hand, if you come for the faith and dismiss the cultural part—the Ukrainian experience—you are also missing a big part,” says Okhrimtchouk.

Okhrimtchouk lives near the church for ease of access, but many others in the Ukrainian-speaking community also live in the area.  Dense populations of people who speak Ukrainian live in north-west Ottawa, starting at Westboro and moving west into Kanata and Stittsville, according to 2011 National Household Survey data for Ottawa from Statistics Canada.

Michael Kostiuk, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Ottawa, says there are historical links to the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches in Ottawa.

The Ukrainian Orthodox church was originally erected in downtown Ottawa in 1950 but then plans were made to move to its current location in 1962, moving it westward with the community.

Kostiuk, who has a Master’s degree in geography from Carleton University, says jobs in the downtown core drew people to the area in the time leading up to 1950.

“In the 1950s people moved to the new homes west of Holland Avenue as they became available, and car use meant the city could expand beyond the streetcar lines,” says Kostiuk. “That also occurred in other cities such as Toronto where Ukrainians moved from the core west to areas such as Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville.”

However, the Ukrainian-speaking community in Ottawa is not very large, totalling to 1630 Ukrainian-speakers, with the densest area at the west end of Carling Avenue only containing 100 speakers, according to the 2011 NHS data.

Okhrimtchouk says the core of their church community is small because people are constantly moving in and out of the city.

“One of the words you can use to describe our community is transient,” says Okhrimtchouk. “They come here, they live a couple years and they move on.”

He says this transiency can make it challenging to establish a base-community for the church. However, that does not stop their existing community from getting involved.

The church holds an annual Christmas Bazaar, various other dinners and social events as well as community outreach. Okhrimtchouk says there might even be a “battle of the borscht” (a traditional Ukrainian soup) to look forward to in the coming year.

When Anthony Cristofari first moved to Ottawa in October of 2013, he initially bounced around apartments in various neighbourhoods in the downtown area. It took him a little over a year to settle into his current apartment in downtown Ottawa, just off of Elgin Street.

However, finally settling into an apartment did not mean he had housing stability. “Every month was a gamble,” he says of staying in Ottawa and making rent. The Windsor, Ont. native moved to Ottawa to be added to the supply teaching list, which meant working hours and income were unpredictable. “Even when I did work five days a week it was like pennies.”

At points Cristofari was spending at least a third of his income on rent and other housing costs such as hydro. For his neighbourhood this is not an uncommon occurrence. According to an analysis of the 2011 National Household Survey, the area around Elgin Street has the highest concentration of households in Ottawa who spend over a third of their income on housing.

The map above shows each neighbourhood in Ottawa. Click on an area to find the number of households that spend over a third of their income on housing. The darkest area is Cristofari’s neighbourhood around Eglin Street. The neighbourhood has slightly more than 1,300 households spending more than a third of income on housing, roughly 300 more than the next highest area. The 2011National Household Survey data was obtained through Statistics Canada open data website.

Spending over a third of income on housing can take away spending on other important aspects such as food, health and recreation. It can also put pressure on transportation costs which is also a significant part of Cristofari’s costs. Supply teaching required him to work in various parts of the city, so he heavily relied on his car. “Honestly I can’t imagine doing my job in particular without having a car.”

However in his neighbourhood, because amenities like groceries are close he says he only needs it for work, which has cut down on his gas consumption. “Thankfully when I am home I barely drive around because everything is so close.”

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation defines housing affordability as spending less than a third of income on housing and associated costs. Jonathan Rotondo the senior media relations officer of CMHC says the measure is less than perfect. “A household could spend more than this out of choice,” he said in an emailed response.

However Rotondo says that the benchmark is useful in order to measure affordability for households with limited alternatives, such as Cristofari. Rotondo says the benchmark is a generally accepted threshold across government departments in Canada. “I even used it when budgeting for my own house,” he says.

Cristofari considered moving to other areas such as Barrhaven for cheaper rent, but given that he was new to the city he wanted to be close to a social setting. “It’s not worth it when you’re new to a city.”

It is not a surprise to Cristofari that his neighbourhood has the highest concentration of households breaking the threshold for affordable housing. He says that it seems like a “perfect in between spot,” for young professionals who are just starting careers and rely on rent for housing costs.

Statistics Canada data supports Cristofari’s assumption. Analysis of the National Household Survey points out that the highest bracket that breaks the 30 per cent threshold is comprised of non-family households that rent rather than own homes.

Cristofari thinks he will find himself out of this bracket during the next survey. He recently was accepted for a long-term teaching positon in Kanata, “It’s only been a couple weeks but it’s starting to level out, it’s not as crazy to live here.” He says that if things continue as they are he may even buy a house in a few years, just perhaps not near Elgin Street.

 Here is the map