Obviously, bike transportation seems to go nowhere in Montreal. Last year was an election year, we took our troubles patiently. We thought that the climate crisis could sacrifice an entire year, just to be able to elect an administration that believes in cycling. We said to ourselves, come on, the safety of our children who travel by bike can also wait another year, their autonomy too. We understood that perhaps the typical voter, the one who goes to the corner convenience store by car, was not ready for the implementation of safe cycling facilities in an election year. We took our troubles patiently.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
We said to ourselves that once this administration was elected, it was going to act quickly and quickly to make up for the delay of the last year, or even the last four years. We said to ourselves that she was going to put everything in place to counter climate change, starting with the basics of the solution: active transportation.
One wonders if the administration of Projet Montréal is not suffering from post-traumatic shock following the media outcry and the opinion of certain public figures when the REV Saint- Dennis. But you know, Madam Mayor, as with any change, public opinion has digested this transformation, it has grasped its full relevance. The proof is that almost all of the ridings bordering the REV Saint-Denis and Bellechasse garnered more votes for Projet Montréal in 2021 than in 2017.
Back to our children: how come we’re not obsessed with their safety and autonomy?
How is it, for example, that it is impossible for the family to cycle safely on Christophe-Colomb, a north-south axis running along several residential neighborhoods, including three schools? However, in 2020, you had the courage to set up a security facility there, which has since been dismantled.
We have waited long enough. Prove us wrong, Mr.me Plant. Show us that we do everything for the safety of our children who travel by bike. Prove to us that every inch of roads in Montreal will ultimately be transformed so that safe transportation by bicycle has a fair place compared to walking or transportation by car. Show us that you deeply believe that active mobility is at the heart of the fight against climate change.
Now is the time to act. Let’s transform rue Saint-Urbain, Papineau, du Parc, Christophe-Colomb, Viau, Rosemont, Jean-Talon, Saint-Joseph, Jarry and several other arteries so that bicycle transport is as safe and accessible as walking (although for the latter, there is still a lot of work to be done).
Let’s make cycling infrastructure a commonplace part of the urban landscape, just like sidewalks.
And let’s stop consulting profusely with each cycle path project: the safety of active travel is non-negotiable.
You have in your hands, Madam Mayor, the key to transforming Montreal so that it becomes, like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, a world benchmark for bicycle travel. And there, no city in the world will be able to justify its procrastination for bicycle facilities by saying: “Yes, but we are not Montreal”, because if it is possible in Montreal, it is possible everywhere.