Cycling is doing well in Montreal, according to ridership data for the city’s bike paths and BIXI. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of two-wheeled trips has increased by 20%, measured the counters of the metropolis’ cycle paths.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
During the first nine months of this year, the counters of Montreal bike paths have already recorded a total of more than 12 million passages. This report follows the marked increase observed in 2021, when nearly 17 million passages were recorded, compared to 14 million the previous year.
For more than five years, Montrealers have turned more regularly to cycling, according to Philippe Apparicio, director of the Environmental Equity Laboratory. “There was a modal shift from public transport to cycling, because the lines, especially the orange line, were overloaded. Many users have decided to take the bike realizing that it is as efficient as the metro,” he explains.
The pandemic, resulting in a fear of public transport for some, is in turn encouraging this change. The period is also long enough for cycling, even after the lifting of health restrictions, to have become a habit for many. “Some 20% of cyclists said they cycled more during the pandemic and it seems that they have kept these habits”, illustrates Priscilla Dutra Dia Viola, doctoral student at the Faculty of Planning at the University of Montreal.
The REV, two-wheel accelerator
The arrival of the Réseau express vélo (REV) since 2019 seems to have given new impetus to this mode of two-wheeled travel. “The REV is changing the face of cycling in Montreal,” confirms Magali Bebronne, program director and spokesperson for Vélo Québec.
Same conclusion for Samuel Milette-Lacombe, co-spokesperson for the Association for Active Mobility of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
The construction of REV axes has a lot to do with the increase in traffic.
Samuel Milette-Lacombe, co-spokesperson for the Ahuntsic-Cartierville Association for Active Mobility
As evidenced by data compiled by The Press, the infrastructure is a resounding success with users. According to Philippe Apparicio, from the Environmental Equity Laboratory, it would make it possible to bring the bicycle closer to the automobile in efficiency. “If we want the bicycle to be used in a city like Montreal, it has to be as efficient as or more efficient than other modes of transportation. The REV allows that, because it is a fast and safe route,” he explains.
The success of BIXI
Another responsible for the increase is the BIXI self-service bicycle network which, more than a decade after its establishment in Montreal, continues to attract new enthusiasts. The figures posted by the network prove its success. As of July 2022, the service had 35,000 new subscribers and around 250,000 occasional access purchases.
“BIXI, it also changed everything, because it came to create social acceptability and an opportunity for people to try cycling. It gave a huge boost to cycling culture,” explains Magali Bebronne, from Vélo Québec.
When you look at BIXI’s results compared to other bike-sharing systems, the system is extremely popular.
Magali Bebronne, program director and spokesperson for Vélo Québec
For his part, Frédéric Bataille, spokesperson for the Montreal Active Mobility Coalition, associates this success with that of the infrastructures created by the City of Montreal. “We have seen the use of BIXIs increase a lot in recent years. It is in relation to the cycling facilities. The more there are, the more people use the self-service bicycles. »
A tool for opening up
The results of the REV and those of BIXI therefore seem to prove the popularity of cycling in Montreal. However, the discourses and data often concern only the center of the city. “We must also continue to deploy the network of peripheral cycle paths. There are still a lot of neglected areas that don’t have a protected cycling network,” says Samuel Milette-Lacombe, of the Ahuntsic-Cartierville Association for Active Mobility.
The ridership figures as well as those of BIXI still confirm the positive results published by Vélo Québec in 2020 in its report entitled The state of cycling in Quebec. The organization then counted 4.5 million cyclists in Quebec, of which 1.1 million were Montrealers. “We know that one out of two Quebecers rides a bicycle, for various reasons, for leisure for example. In Montreal, the reality is different, the bicycle is a mode of transport,” reaffirms Magali Bebronne.