Ottawa, Ontario
Crowd control in Ottawa
Belt stanchions, twin belt posts, rope stanchions and sign stands to buy or to rent, delivered across Ottawa and Gatineau.
What Ottawa orders
The models that make a route readable.
A single belt at waist height is invisible to a long cane and it is at exactly the wrong height to be seen from a seated position. That is the whole problem, and the equipment answers it in three ways rather than one — a second lower belt, a wider gap where a chair has to turn, and wording that is at reading height rather than at the top of a post.
Twin belt posts
A second belt low enough to be found by a cane. It is a different model from the standard post and it is ordered as one.
Wider legs and turns
A chair needs room to turn without reversing the whole leg. That is spacing, and it costs posts rather than money.
Signage at reading height
A frame on a floor stand rather than on a post top, where wording can be read by somebody who is sitting down.
Where we deliver
Both sides of the river.
Deliveries cover the city, the suburbs and across into Gatineau. The buildings on the federal precinct are the ones to plan around: access is arranged rather than assumed, and an order for one of those is scheduled against the building rather than against the traffic.
- Ottawa
- Gatineau
- Kanata
- Nepean
- Orléans
- Barrhaven
- Stittsville
- Rockland
- Carleton Place
Orders go to the buildings that manage a public queue daily:
- the convention centre beside the canal
- the museums strung along the river on both banks
- the arena out in the west end
- the buildings on and around the parliamentary precinct
- the university campuses either side of the canal
- the airport terminal in the south of the city
If the destination is a secured building, tell us at the brief stage rather than on the day — access there is arranged in advance and it changes when the order can land.
Laying out an accessible route
The gap matters more than the barrier.
Most of what makes a queue usable is space rather than hardware. A leg wide enough for a chair to pass another person, a turn with room to swing rather than reverse, an entry that is not a chicane. The equipment supports that — a lower belt so the edge can be found, signage low enough to be read — but no post fixes a route that was drawn too tight in the first place.
Draw the turns first
Corners are where a tight layout fails. Set those out at the width a chair needs and the straights will look after themselves.
Lower belt, not thinner
Detection is about height, not about how visible the belt is. A high-contrast belt still cannot be felt by a cane.
One clear entry
A route with two possible starts is a route that gets read wrong. One entry, marked, with the wording where it can be read from a seat.
Worth asking
What an Ottawa route usually has to answer.
- Which post do we need for a cane-detectable route?
- A twin belt model, where the second belt sits low enough to be found by a long cane sweeping ahead rather than passed under it. It is a separate product rather than an accessory that clips onto a standard post, so it belongs in the count from the beginning.
- How wide should the legs of the queue be?
- Wide enough that a wheelchair can turn at the ends without reversing down the leg, and wide enough for someone to pass. We will not put a number on your room without seeing it — send the layout and we will mark where the spacing has to open up.
- Where should the wording go?
- Low enough to be read sitting down. A sign on top of a post is at standing eye level and above it, which is fine for most people and wrong for some. A floor-standing frame beside the entry solves it without adding anything to the posts.
- Can you deliver into a secured federal building?
- With notice, yes. Access to those is arranged rather than assumed and it is the part of the schedule with the least give in it, so tell us the destination when you send the brief rather than when the order is ready to leave.
- Does an accessible layout need more equipment?
- Usually a few more posts, because wider legs and roomier turns take more of them to build the same length of line. It is a small difference and it is the honest one — anyone quoting an accessible route for the same post count as a tight one has not widened anything.
Ask for a quote
Send us the Ottawa layout and we will mark the turns.
Add what you need with the Buy or Rent button on each product, then open the order and say how many and where. You get a written quote back with the options laid out. Delivery, setup and collection are quoted on their own lines, so you can take them or leave them.