This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of July 19, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
Analysis of open traffic data on rue Saint-Denis reveals a significant increase in the use of bicycles compared to other vehicles, at the turn of the installation of the Réseau express vélo (REV) in 2020. The duty looked at five intersections sampled by the City of Montreal, before and after the advent of REV. Typical days, in the same periods of the year, were chosen for the comparisons.
Unsurprisingly, the reduction of the two automobile traffic lanes to one has considerably reduced the flow of vehicles on the Saint-Denis artery. On average, at the intersections observed, the daily number of car passes has halved. On June 10, 2019, 15,654 cars used the Bellechasse / Saint-Denis intersection. Two years later, on June 2, 2021, 7976 motorists used the intersection.
For their part, bicycle crossings have continued to increase, their number sometimes being multiplied by seven. At the Roy / Saint-Denis intersection, for example, the City recorded 65 bicycle crossings on May 16, 2017; after the arrival of the REV, 438 cyclists used the intersection on May 27, 2021.
Although it remains difficult to attribute the increase in cyclists and the decrease in cars on Saint-Denis Street to the arrival of the REV, the increase in the popularity of cycling on this axis is not in doubt.
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