CTV News Ottawa

SS
I know its better for the environment, but i'm LAZY...and it's COLD out...

ya
This is what our City Council is focused on. Unreal. How about putting something in place so that Counciller cannot keep their postiton for more than 5 years so we can get some fresh people in there to make some real decisions.

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Even never using a drive-through - I know it is the wrong step to do, to ban drive-thrus.

In a number of cases, it has prevented potential robberies, just having the advantage of the drive-thru.

Debra
Drive thru's serve a very important purpose to handicapped people and parents with children. I for one have more problems attempting to get into some of these places with my scooter and find the drive thru's the only way I can get reasonable access. Half of the places that have handicapped doors don't work, and the other half have line ups that you cannot negotiate with our equipment. I also have numerous children (one handicapped) and do not need to drag them to wait in line when sitting in the car is safer and more convenient.
Maybe city counciellors should consider the handicapped problems in the ottawa area for once !!!!

John Vincent
No more drive thrus:

Looks like these Ottawa councilors and former directors of planning don’t have enough to keep them busy.

This seems like a stupid plan. Do they really think everyone can easily jump in and out of their vehicle, day or night, rain or shine, snow and ice, able or disabled, or in areas full of punks and prostitutes?

Maybe we should just pay these people to stay home instead of for making up arbitrary laws effecting citizens and business owners in our town. I believe my tax dollars would be much better spent.

Unbelievable;

John Vincent
Citizen & Tax payer

simon D
i think we shoold focurs on more important things like how teh country is being run and also what we need to keep up inthsi world focusing on stupis issues like this make us look stupid whne they are more important things to do, our goverment must be really bored and over payed if they spend all day thinking of issues like this instead of focusing on the reall issues and findign reall solution. i would like to know what is the reason for us to electe morons like that
who spend there day thinking of nonsence.we pay for this crap we want soemthing good out of it

Kim
I can tell you for some it is not lazyness. For me with small children it is alot of work to get my kids in and out of their car seats just to run errands. Things such as banking, get prescriptions filled or yes even grab a coffee. If the kids aren't with me I gladly go in but with babies in the car, drive-in's are a lifesaver!!

andre
While I see their point, it should not be up to the city to decide how a business-owner should serve his or her customers.

Maybe if they concentrated their time and efforts on things that are their business, they would find ways to be more efficient with our tax money, and not have to raise our taxes.

All of a sudden they're going to crack down on one thing that may affect the appearance of the city? What about those horrible rental sign/trailers that every second business in Kanata puts up by the road?

Was this a pressing item that got these councillors elected? I think not. Are there more pressing things they should spend their tax-paid time on? Absolutely. They should get their noses out of things I don't want to be paying them to do.

PS - I note while I'm writing this that there is a suggestion to "please review for spelling and grammar before hitting 'submit'". I suggest the author of this story do the same. There are three errors in the article.

Colin
More interference for businesses from politicians, in the name of political correctness.

If there was no demand for drive throughs, then businesses wouldn't build them.

I will admit to annoyance when I see the line backing up onto the main road, but the drivers should engage their brains and go in the store in that case.

What about the ones that can't walk?
I use the drive thru's all the time. I am in an electric wheelchair. It takes alot to transfer in and out of it and then get out of the van and close it back up to get into a tim hortons for a coffee. When I made the effort a few weeks back in Orleans I did all that work and ended up with no coffee. Why? No place to drive up to the door. Sidewalks were too high to get over with the chair. A customer was nice enough to direct me to a drive thru not far from where I was. Some doors are too close together so even if you get through one you can't get through the other. Many don't have automatic doors. I was told by one Manager at Tim's on Bank st that they don't get enough customers in wheelchairs to substantiate the cost. So nice of the city to make furure plans for the city that excludes the needs of the disabled. Why am I not surprised. Getting in and out of your van is even harder in the winter as wheels easily slip on wet surfaces. Hence the reason you keep getting in and out at any time to a minimum to avoid getting the ramp and floors to wet and slippery to safely use. Such is life. I just won't be going to those areas. Every time you think plans are taking a step forward for inclusion they end up taking three steps back. A reality I just have to live with and learn to accept.

SC in Ottawa
Using a drive thru isn't about just laziness. Quite frequently, its much quicker than going into a Tim Hortons. I found repeatedly during the summer when I walked into a Tim Hortons and ordered a dozen coffees when doing a coffee run for work that only one person would be getting my order ready. This kept the cashier I was at unable to be used by anyone else, and with only 2 people working at the front counter, that ended up creating a large line of customers waiting in the store.

Meanwhile you see four people bustling around to get the order ready for the vehicle in the drive thru, plus lining up orders for the next 2 vehicles. This is because Tim Hortons has a clock that shows how long a customer in the drive thru has been waiting, and the employees are encouraged to ensure that clock doesn't hit 2 minutes. It then flashes obnoxiously when it does hit 2 minutes.

Also, at similar times in the day I would time how long it took for me to walk into the store to get a coffee compared to going through the drive thru, trying to find which was faster when on my way to work, and the drive thru was consistently faster.

It seems to me that Tim Hortons encourages the employees to focus on the drive thru, rather than the customers who walk into the store, so naturally people will prefer them and use them, and not because of laziness, but because of speed.

jdo
I agree that drive-thru's should not be added to main roads or to the downtown core due to space issues, however when it comes to my drive into work at rush hour, I can take 2 minutes at the drive-thru or 6 minutes waiting in line inside for my coffee. What choice would you make?

Tom
Here we go again, our city council wants to regulate another area of our lives and in the process cut student jobs when they are no longer needed to staff drive throughs.