No need to go to Copenhagen to experience better biking infrastructure – just go two hours east to Montreal.
I lived in Montreal ten years ago as a student and never biked a single day in the city. It was partly because I lived within walking distance of the campus and partly because it seemed crazy. But now? Times have changed and bike paths and Bixi bikes are everywhere. It feels like a complete culture shift.
Traffic calming is everywhere downtown. Narrowed streets, cyclepaths, speed humps, bulb-outs and reduced speed limits.
Here’s a brief tour of some great cycle-friendly things I saw over the weekend.
Bixi bikes everywhere. With locations in useful places that residents would go, transit stations and the usual touristy spots.
I hopped on a Bixi bike – from a rack stationed outside the bus terminal on rue Berri / Berri Metro stop / Main public library / Université de Québec adjacent and pedaled up the hill to my friend’s apartment.
Montreal’s Bixi network : 5,120 bikes and 411 stations.
Ottawa’s Bixi network: 250 bikes and 25 stations
If you have a monthly transit pass in Montreal – a full season’s Bixi membership is only $19. You also get discounts if you are a Communauto member (like Vrtucar). To my knowledge, Ottawa has no such incentives for the Capitale system.
My weekend bag tucked nicely into the handlebar rack. But I did need to use my spare bungee cord on the return trip despite my attempts not to buy too much.
The bike ride cut my travel time to the Mile End area in half. My relaxed bike ride took only 20 minutes – whereas the Metro and bus would have taken 45 minutes. Plus it was a beautiful warm sunny day and just great to be outside. Win win win. The reutrn trip to Berri was even faster on Sunday since it is all downhill.
Montreal has lots of protected and marked cycle lanes. Some with concrete barriers, some with poles, some are raised paths, some painted lines, some sharrows. They do it all. They also separate the path into cycling and walking lanes around Parc Mont-Royal where there is heavy people traffic. There are contraflow lanes and bicycle traffic signals. They’re using the best practices employed in other cycle-friendly cities and just doing it. It seems to be working. Bike riding people were everywhere.
Although, there are still lots of places for improvements. Like in NDG. But still – noticeable progress.
The protected bike waiting zone.
Berri at Cherrier is a wide arterial street – much like Wellington here in Ottawa. The radii at the corners are wide. By expanding the northwest corner to provide a safe waiting area for cyclists waiting to cross to and from the Berri and Cherrier bike lanes, the tighter corner means cars must slow down to complete their turn. It’s a traffic calming and bike infrastructure double whammy.
Berri has a bi-directional cycle path – as does the cross street Cherrier. To connect the two bi-directional bike lanes, the protected waiting zone gives cyclists a space to wait at the light without being on the sidewalk.
The protected zone helps cyclists and pedestrians navigate a busy junction. And provides traffic calming at the same time.
Laurier Avenue East. A Laurier bike lane!
Oh the Lauriers. What would a city be without a Laurier bike lane? The Laurier approach in Montreal would cause Ottawa to erupt in flames. Not only did they add bike lanes in both directions, but they REMOVED an entire direction of roadway for cars. That’s right. It’s now a one way street with a single lane for cars. Cycle space now takes up more than half of the roadway. I tried searching online to learn more about how this decision came to be, but most of the Google’s search results are dedicated to Ottawa’s Laurier lanes. Yay us.
I did find two articles. One by Macleans (sporting a blatantly car-biased title). And another article published in the Walrus by Taras Grescoe that doesn’t take the confrontational tone that most newspapers and current affairs writers use to sell their work.
As my friend (who also owns a car in Montreal and bikes) describes it – it’s a pain if you’re driving but it’s fabulous when you’re biking.
Photo Credit: Alanah Heffez (I hope this is ok)
Montreal’s burroughs control their own traffic plans. So when speeding commuters (80% of Plateau traffic) were using the neighbourhood as a throughway, the burrough simply said no more. I’m not going to lie – I like that system. Imagine…
du Parc and Mont-Royal
Connecting the McGill ‘ghetto’ to Parc Mont-Royal to the Plateau? Check.
Bike share options? Check.
Separated bike path from traffic? Check.
Dedicated cycle signals? Check.
Wide sidewalk for pedestrians? Check.
It’s all the right things in all the right places. It turns out, this bike lane stuff isn’t rocket science after all.
But why choose just one solution on a street?
This street in Mile End has a contraflow lane and a sharrow painted for shared space.
And sharrows continue through the intersection:
And while you’re in Montreal – do stop in at La Maison des cyclistes for their wonderful croissants.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
