‘A big inconvenience for everybody’: Queen Street closure disruptive, downtown businesses say

A closure of a section of Queen Street downtown is disruptive and it could reduce pedestrian traffic in the normally busy area, business owners and workers say.

Ultimately, the closure of four blocks of Queen Street, from Bay to Victoria streets, for 4.5 years could reduce business itself, the business people said.

The closure, which began on Monday, is due to construction of the future Queen station of the Ontario Line. The station is one of 15 new stations on the line that will stretch from Exhibition Place to the Ontario Science Centre.

Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, says the closure applies to drivers and cyclists but not to pedestrians. Downtown businesses remain open. TTC detours are in place. Metrolinx has promised business owners that pedestrian traffic will continue as usual.

At least one convenience store owner is concerned that the closure could force him into bankruptcy, while one business worker said the closure is already making people late for appointments. A business association says the full impact of the closure is not yet known.

Salim Merchant, a franchisee of the INS Market, a convenience store on the southwest corner of Victoria Street and Queen Street East, said he bought the franchise in November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the closure is another hit to his business.

“I thought that I might make some extra bread and butter for my family, but even it’s hard to get bread and butter for me,” Merchant said on Monday.

Merchant said he gets 50 to 70 customers per day now that some office workers have returned downtown, but the closure makes him worried about the future.

“We are using our own capital — investing and investing — but we are getting nothing from the business now,” he said.

“I’m only seeing one door open and that is going to a bankruptcy. I don’t see any other doors in front of me. We are not getting any single cent of relief on the rent. How are we going to survive?”

WATCH | CBC’s Julia Knope explains what you need to know about the closure:

How to navigate the Queen Street closure

Starting May 1, Queen Street between Bay and Victoria streets will be closed to traffic until at least 2027. Julia Knope breaks down how you can get around.

For Jonel Franco, a barber at Urban Philosophy Men’s Grooming on Richmond Street East,

Read more

RACV Automotive Insurance To Defend Your Automotive On The Street

Car InsuranceLooking for low cost automotive insurance? Agreed Worth signifies that in the occasion of a write-off, we pay you the amount shown on your policy. For Market Value insurance policies, we’ll assess your car and local market indicators to determine its true value on the time of the declare. Your choice of Agreed or Market Value is reflected in your premium.

The AA have teamed up with Axa, Aviva and Allianz for automobile insurance to check quotes to provde the greatest level of cover that suits your wants at the right worth. The AA have chosen this panel of Insurance Companies to be able to provide unique product benefits on the best suited value.

Third get together insurance coverage for your car is nothing however the coverage assured to the third occasion onlyi.e. harm to another particular person’s vehicle or property, bodily injuries and permanent incapacity during an accident by your automotive and is necessary by regulation.

We provide 2 kinds of automobile insurance coverage – comprehensive or third celebration, hearth and theft cowl- so you’ll be able to select cowl to go well with you. Here are the key options of our automobile insurance coverage choices. Some credit cards embrace benefits that reimburse you for the price of a tow truck after an accident or theft. That is one much less worry on a long weekend roadtrip with pals.

Tremendous Motor Insurance coverage is greatest fitted to a new or comparatively new automobile, overlaying something between windscreen injury and slightly dent in a parking lot. Commonplace Motor Insurance is suitable for a 6-19-12 months-outdated car, protecting, for instance, collision, theft and vandalism. Medium Motor Insurance suits all automobiles which are a maximum of 25 years outdated. You may embrace, for example, towing coverage on this insurance.

The type of cowl you have got is proven in your automobile insurance coverage certificate. Set a driver-age restriction. You may get a lower premium by limiting your coverage to drivers over a sure age (21+, 25+, 30+, 40+, 50+). Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd. : third Flooring, A wing, Krislon Home, Saki Vihar highway, Saki Naka, Mumbai, Maharashtra – 400072.

For addition of hypothecation, you possibly can ship an e-mail with the policy particulars, a scanned copy of your request letter, your sanction letter from the monetary establishment and the endorsed copy of your Registration Certificates (RC) to your automobile insurance provider. … Read more