Montreal’s cycle congestion

Be careful what you wish for.

Cyclists’ default setting when it comes to advocacy is a desire to have more people cycling as a source of transportation. But what happens when there’s a spike in cyclists and a city’s bike infrastructure can’t handle it? That seems to be the case in Montreal.

Last year, Vélo Quebec released its five-year Report on Bicycling in Quebec which noted a “dramatic rise in the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation” in the province. But recently, on the heels of the Montreal Bike Fest, the group’s president Suzanne Lareau has lamented the dense bike congestion on such bike paths as de Maisonneuve, St. Urbain, Brébeug and Rachel. Her group tells of scenarios like twenty cyclists deep waiting at a red light or frustrated bike-riders veering off the paths to take their chances amidst the automobiles.

One million cyclists use the de Maisonneuve path each year. Lareau suggests that new paths running east-west and north-south would help to alleviate the velo-snarls.