By Brigette Choiselat
When it comes to late-night banking options, one of Ottawa’s busiest night-life scenes is being left in the dark and forcing Centretown customers to pull at doors and scream for money.
Changes in bank machine hours are forcing Elgin Street merchants to consider all options to help their customers get late-night cash.
In mid-December, the Bank of Nova Scotia at the corner of Elgin and Frank Streets, changed from a 24-hour bank machine to being closed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“It’s really inconvenient considering it’s supposed to be convenience banking,” says Bella Luk, a customer who was locked out on a Saturday night. “And now we have to walk . . . I don’t know how far,” added Debbie Stewart of Metcalfe Street.
The change at Scotiabank came in response to some customers’ concerns about the homeless sleeping in the vestibules, says Paul Dufour, branch manager.
“In a lot of occasions we found people were using it as a sleep-over and it became a concern about our clients’ safety and well-being,” he says.
This type of change will have a great impact on some of the region’s 4,600 homeless people who avoid shelters, says Mary-Martha Hale, director of Centre 454, a downtown drop-in centre.
“Sleeping in the bank machine spaces is not ideal but it’s (now) just one less place they can be,” she says.
Dave Barrow, a manager at Elgin Street Diner, says the change is forcing people onto the streets and creating other problems. As a night-shift manager of the 24-hour restaurant, he says he regularly hears complaints about the change in hours. He says since Interac machines would be too inconvenient for the amount of customers the diner serves, the restaurant is considering getting its own automatic teller machine.
“With the bank machines that are closed down around the neighbourhood, it’s becoming more and more evident that we might have to do it,” Barrow says.
Some businesses have already taken steps to prevent their customers from having to search for cash machines late at night.
The Fire Station Bar & Grill, located beside the Scotiabank, has recently invested in an Interac machine as part of a solution. According to owner Marc Genier, the nightclub felt it had to provide this alternative since the majority of his business takes place once the machines are locked.
“(Clients) went out with no money and then they’re counting on a bank machine and then it’s not available,” he says.