The enthusiasm for winter biking continues to grow, even outside the island of Montreal. Cyclists embarked on Longueuil’s snow-cleared cycling network, twice as large as last year.
New this year: the City of Longueuil says it is banking on active mobility by clearing 60 km of bike paths, compared to 27.5 km last year and barely 5 km the winter before.
“It feels good and it puts you in a good mood,” says Guillaume Paradis, who started winter cycling this week. My goal is to do it at least four days a week. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Guillaume Paradis
Marie-Pier Côté, a cyclist met on the La Fayette Boulevard bike path in Longueuil, agrees.
It’s really for fun, speed and cost. It is less expensive.
Marie-Pier Cote
By 2025, Longueuil plans to maintain a total of 116.5 km of bike paths in winter, an increase of 324% in four years. Since the first snow on November 16, the City “has deployed its staff to carry out snow removal and maintenance of the 60 km of cycle paths that will be cleared of snow this winter on the territory”, wrote by email the City of Longueuil.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF LONGUEUIL
By 2025, Longueuil plans to maintain a total of 116.5 km of bike paths in winter.
“This is excellent news, especially since these are important areas [qui sont déneigés], launches Mario Grenier, met on his bike at the entrance to the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Before, we drove in the streets. There was a little more impatience between [les usagers de la route]. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Mario Grenier
After 13 years of winter cycling experience, he notices that he is no longer one of the only ones to use the Longueuil cycling network. “I meet a lot more people,” he confirms.
Paul Godin, a resident of Ahuntsic, travels 46 km a day to get to work in Longueuil and back. He is entering his first winter on two wheels, equipped with studded tires, gloves and heated socks.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Paul Godin
It is in particular the partial closure of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel that prompted the Montrealer to get on his four-season bike. ” Since [le tunnel] fell to one lane, there is no longer any question of me going through that, ”he says.
Less and less marginal
” [Le vélo d’hiver], it is less and less marginal, more and more generalized, notes Magali Bebronne, director of programs and spokesperson for Vélo Québec. What we are seeing is that the retention rate for cyclists in winter is increasing. »
Nearly 15% of cyclists who rode between June and September 2020 on the island of Montreal were still on two wheels between December and March last year, according to Vélo Québec. Five years earlier, this proportion of cyclists did not exceed 9%. Today, around one in seven cyclists continues to ride during the winter season, explains Magali Bebronne.
The enthusiasm for four-season cycling is also being felt in bicycle workshops. Traffic has doubled with the approach of winter at André Cycle et Sport in Longueuil since last year, observes Jean-Alexandre Léger, mechanic of the store.
“There is a causal link with the quality of snow removal and the quality of infrastructure,” according to Magali Bebronne.
It is not “temperatures, snowfall or precipitation”, but “the quality of the roadway” that encourages people to take their bikes, she continues.
Winter biking is fun “as long as you dress well,” says Louis Duranleau, a cyclist I met in Longueuil. “I have nothing to say so far, everything is cleared of snow and there is salt everywhere,” he adds.
From December to March 2020, 190,000 cyclists rode in the province, according to the latest report from Vélo Québec.
The first snowfall on Wednesday, November 16 still cooled cyclists. On Wednesday, November 16, 225 cyclists took the Jacques-Cartier Bridge bike lane, compared to more than 800 the day before. There were thousands of cyclists crossing the bridge between Montreal and Longueuil each day earlier this fall.