Cycling in the City
As an avid cyclist, who’s been racing bikes for over ten years and who was a bike courier for 2 years, I’ve really seen the evolution of city riding in Montreal.
This is my first entry for Metroblogging Montreal and I figured it best to introduce myself by discussing what I know a little about: riding your bike in Montreal.
Take Milton one morning on your bike around the hours of 08:30. It’s packed with cyclists. Packed. In all the years I have been riding, I’ve never seen anything like it. Cyclists during morning rush hours, own that road. It’s so incredibly rare to see cars who drive as if they know they have to give cyclists some space. Drivers don’t honk, cut riders off, and avoid making the lives of cyclists as difficult as possible. The cyclists in return generally stick to the lanes cut out for them by the city.
Dare I say that it’s working ?
I honestly feel that these open lanes work better then the closed bike paths. I rode the Rachel bike path from start to finish for 3 months, every morning, and every evening. As you approach the city, it turns into a drag strip. Riders trying to pass slower riders with other riders coming the other way.. Yech. People need to relax.
But the advantage of the “open bike path” is it gives enough space for people to pass.
All that is left is for the city to finally open up something similar going North/South and something along De Maisonneuve. Then, we will have finally claimed our space in this city. And then maybe those drivers will see the light and take their bikes as well.
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I used to walk up milton from st laurent every day to parc, on my way to work. I always meant to bring my camera but never did, at st urbain and milton you can usually have about 20 cyclists at each red light.
One thing I see alot of here is that there are a lot of bikers who don’t seem to understand the rules of the road at all. I have to drive a good bit in town and I always find bikers scooting in to my blind spot on my right side at a stop sign when I am taking a right. It’s a recipe for death…just wait behind me like the cars have to until I take my turn mmm-kay? Being on a bike is cool because you can do stuff you can’t in a car (ie go the wrong way on a quiet one way) but skipping stop signs sucks.
Anyway, I’ve ridden in alot of cities and I find Montreal drivers better than most (except for car doors which seem to be a plague in this town). Montreal bikers on the other hand are worse for a city driver here than in most cities, but maybe it’s because only bike messengers and the truly brave/battle-worn and car-aware bike in most cities whereas in Montreal everyone bikes.
Truly amazing the number of people biking here…
And yeah, I prefer the open bike lanes to the closed ones for the same reason.
There’s a long history in regards to drivers vs bikers in this city. An even longer history between cyclists and cabbies. There’s no real love lost.
There’s no question that cyclists rarely obey the laws. I can’t see that changing either. The only times I talk to fellow cyclists is when they break a law stupidly.. say run a red and freak out a mom and her kid. Or ride the wrong way down St-Laurent causing havoc to fellow riders.
My argument is if you are going to break the law, at least be intelligent about it.
Agreed, as a biker myself I am not going to hold the law and order torch over anyone, just making a point to the perhaps less familiar and you gave me a space to vent about my one pet-peeve. ;)
Every city seems to have its ugly history of bikers vs drivers (although I guess like all historical things here, it goes back a bit further than most places). Seattle has ghost bikes everywhere as part of their work to help drivers be more aware…which is working some I guess but drivers are still the worst about bikes in Seattle compared to any city I’ve ridden in…so there’s a long way to go there. I’m really happy Montreal has the no-right-on-red thing, it saves alot of lives.
Hi Justin,
Welcome to Metroblogging Montreal.
You should be getting some good news in the next month on so regarding your north-south request. No promises, but I’m hearing some good rumours.
Regards.
MS
P.-S. Are you still in contact with our mutual friend?
I agree, 1-way open lanes is a real good idea compared to closed-road like Rachel. Worst than anything pedestrians cross the Rachel cyclist road as if it was part of the sidewalk, without watching. That made me brake abruptly once or twice recently.
Like many other cyclists I may not respect the law because I feel there’s no place for me. I know it’s stupid but it’s a way to take my share of the road. Give me more place, and I’ll be more respectful. For example, since I moved from Cote-des-neiges -absolutely nothing for bikes there- to Plateau, I take less wrong way in one-way streets and I park my bike where it’s supposed to (because there are something to park).
I know Marc won’t like that, but there’s still a long way to go to transform Montreal as a bike-friendly city (and regardless what the mayor says it doesn’t evolve very fast).