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Ban on Drive Throughts a bad idea.

So the city of London is planning on banning new drive throughs. I’m “cross posting” this here, with some elaboration, after I submitted it as a letter to the editor of the London Free Press on the lfpress.com website, and I’ve also posted it on BlogLDN. If anyone from the London Free Press or anywhere else wants to quote me here or contact me regarding this issue, or any other, I’m happy to talk, just soot me an email at bill@deys.ca

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I take exception to the comments made by the opponents of drive throughs. If you ban drive throughs stores will need biger parking lots. Land is at a premium and London is getting bigger all the time. If stores like Tim Hortons and McDonalds need more space that is going to mean less green space and less land for agriculture.

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Drive throughts keep stores smaller, make parking lots smaller and are a benefit to the environment. Banning drive throughts makes no sense. The ides was also proposed to limit the space for drive through lanes. Have to been near a Tim Hortons Drive through, who hasn’t, durring a morning rush. Even the store with large drive through capacity and lots of parking are a mess. Face it they can change traffice patterns. The Timmie in Byron has cars backed out onto the road, and blocking normal non-timmies traffic, most mornings.

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I’ve always disagreed with most governmnet intervention to the practices of business, their way of doing things is just bad business! No wonder there is so much money waste! If you want to clean up the enviroment make people feel it’s uncool to use the drive through, that’s how Drinking and Driving is looked at now!

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By Bill on May 28, 2008 - Filed under: Rants,blogLDN
  • Regardless of the land argument, there are a lot of people who aren't mobile enough, especially in winter, to forgo the drive thru. Also, what about parents with 3 kids in the back of the minivan? NOBODY wants that inside Tim Hortons at 6 a.m. do they? Especially if a toddler has to be woken up.
    On the other hand - let's go back in time a bit, when we made coffee from home. You want to reduce litter waste and fuel emissions due to idling Tim Horton's customers? Two words: travel mug.
    Make your coffee at home, folks.
  • Bill Deys got it right. Unless you're going to mandate a LOT more handicapped parking that is really close and accessible to people who have difficulty walking or getting around or people with large families are you going to tell me they have to stop going out to fast food places? This is an ill-conceived and poorly thought out idea driven by a few narrow minded people who can't or won't look at the big picture. Yes there are lazy and ignorant people who drive their cars solo all the time. How is shutting down drive-thrus going to stop them? Push the government and industry to really throw their support behind energy efficient cars, encourage upward growth instead of outward expansion taking up yet more viable farm land. Instead of preventing people from using drive-thrus how about building more bike paths - I'd love to ride a bike around, but there is no way I'm doing it on the street with London drivers.
  • In reply to Marc:

    Society may be the problem, I agree it is, and I think the best way to address that is for society to make it uncool to use the drive through. Much the same way that it is now uncool to drink and drive. Why wouldn't business be the priority? They "pay" for everything by selling goods and collecting taxes and paying employees wages, no matter how underpaid people may think. You also may be sick of seeing "lazy" people in their cars but maybe one or all of them can't walk to good, don't the disabled people have a right to get a coffee? I also agree the don't "NEED" to make the parking lots bigger but they will likely try to! We can't stop thinking about the money, it is, and ALWAYS will be, what makes the world go round. As far as what they have done for me, TDL has been a big part in my life growing up! My grandfather and Ron Joyce, the co-founder, were good friends and he was also a fairly big part of the labour in founding the Tim Hortons Memorial Children's Foundation! Finally if you don't like them raising the price of coffee, have you seen coffee prices on the world market?, or cutting back prices, STOP GOING!
  • I can see you are 22 and angry at the world for not living up to your ideals. We are a capitalist society, accept it. Without these businesses that seem to disgust you, we wouldn't have to worry about drive-thrus becuase we would live in a 3rd world country.
  • Marc
    I do not see how business can be a competing priority. In fact that is the problem with our society and it is crystal clear. It is this mentality that is holding our society back from improving as a whole. I am sick and tired of seeing 9 cars with one lazy person in each one just waiting for the drive thru. Also you don't NEED to make parking lots bigger, removing the drive thru would create more parking spaces. In short STOP THINKING ABOUT MONEY, what has Tim Hortons ever done for you? 10 cent price increase in a month? Skimp a little more each year on roll-up-the-rim prises? I am 22 years old and can see what is wrong, why can't you?
  • Blanket bans are never the answer. Drive throughs are not a large impact when incorporated into a larger commercial development. The problem lies where a single location with a drive through is located with residential around it. In my opinion examples of properly located drive throughs is Starbucks in either Hyde Park or Wonderland Rd. South and McDonald's south of the 401. Lots of room for a lineup and distant from residences. One troublesome one includes Tim Horton's Highbury North where it is often backed up congesting traffic and backed by residences. Implementing a ban on future drive through development would give an unfair advantage to current owners of commercial properties with locations approved for drive throughs. If you would like an example ask Rob Smink what happened to "The Fabulous Forum".

    Also posted on KevBo's blog.
  • Before anything more is said on this topic Im not sure if everyone understands what the proposal is. It isnt for removal of all drive-thrus throughout the city, but rather, and I quote the City of London website:

    " To comprehensively review the current regulation of drive-throughs in the City of London, review other Municipal approaches and recommend changes to address issues of aesthetics, health and environmental impacts, noise and safety. Possible amendments to the Official Plan, Zoning By-law Z-1, Site Plan Control By-law and the possible introduction of Urban Design Guidelines to regulate drive-through facilities associated with restaurants, financial institutions, car washes and a limited range of retail uses particularly in commercial zones that abut residential areas. These amendments may include adding general Official Plan policies; new general provisions, requiring greater setbacks to residential uses and limiting the number of drive throughs on any one property in the zoning by-law; updating standards in the site plan control by-law and creating urban design guidelines for drive-through facilities. Planning Committee will also review studies, reports, articles and submissions on the health and environmental impacts of drive-through facilities."

    I think one of the key things that need to be taken away from this is that its talking about "commercial zones that abut residential areas".
  • I agree, government should not tell businesses whether or not they can have a drive through but they do need to make the businesses deal with the implications of a one. Most Tim Hortons' need turning lanes and more efficiently designed parking lots to handle the traffic spikes in the morning. Maybe a special drive through zoning could be helpful.
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