Montreal and Quebec City, cyclists bypass obstacles on the paths

Montreal’s Réseau express vélo (REV) is enjoying record ridership, and in Quebec City, more and more cycle paths are being built to accommodate cyclists. But garbage bins, trucks, cars, and other obstacles on the paths can be a barrier to adopting this mode of travel.

When the weather is good, thousands of cyclists use the boulevard De Maisonneuve path every day, which links the western neighbourhoods to downtown Montreal.

Traffic generally flows smoothly, but last Thursday and Friday, security guards posted between de la Montagne and Bishop Street blocked cyclists, demanding that they get off their bikes and walk past the path.

The reason: a car dealership was displaying around 10 vehicles, parked directly on the track, as part of the F1 festivities.

“Parking cars on one of the only east-west cycle paths is really insulting,” said Jacques Nacouzi, who has been using the boulevard De Maisonneuve cycle path every day of the week, summer and winter, to get to work for the past seven years.

“We’re still seen as Sunday cyclists who can just change lanes,” but “this path is a utility path, meaning that people don’t use it to go for a ride. They use it to get from point A to point B, to go to work.”

The cyclist is used to congestion on the cycle network, and points out that for several years, garbage cans occupied the De Maisonneuve Boulevard path, in front of the McGill metro station, because of the construction of the REM and work by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), forcing cyclists to share the road with cars.

“They finally cleared the road this morning,” said a delighted Jacques Nacouzi at lunchtime on Friday, pointing out that he had never seen so many cyclists on the streets of the city as in the last week.

The strike by STM maintenance workers has prompted thousands of Montrealers to turn to their bikes.

The BIXI bike-sharing service attracted more than 20,000 new subscribers and set a new record on Wednesday with 98,520 journeys.

The counters installed by the City of Montreal on its cycle network (REV) also broke records, with 145,000 journeys on Wednesday, 25 per cent more than the busiest day in 2024.

Obstacles, discomfort and insecurity

But taxi drivers who use cycle lanes as waiting posts — the lane in front of the Montreal courthouse is a good example — road maintenance trucks and dumpsters from construction work are all obstacles that can not only dampen the motivation of new cyclists, but also put them at risk, according to Vélo Québec.

“When we impose obstacles on cyclists, we expose them to more discomfort, to a feeling of insecurity,” and in some cases, “we force them to leave the path and go into traffic with cars, and that’s a determining factor in whether or not they adopt cycling,” explained Louis Lalonde, project manager at Vélo Québec.

“Whatever the means of transport, whether by car, bike or public transport, what we want is to get around efficiently, comfortably and safely,” he explained.

“It may seem trivial, but if just one small part of our journey is unsafe, it jeopardises the whole cycling experience and takes away a travel option from people who are simply trying to get from point A to point B,” added the Vélo Québec spokesperson.

Lalonde pointed out that space reserved for cyclists represents only 1.7 per cent of the roadway in Montreal.

“It’s not a lot, but it allows a lot of people to get around.”

Parking on a cycle path is illegal. Vélo Québec would like to point out that citizens who observe obstructions in the bike lanes in Montreal can contact the Agence de mobilité durable.

Similar issues in Quebec City

Bicycle and car cohabitation is also an issue in Quebec City.

On the X and Bluesky social networks, “Le marcheur de Québec,” an anonymous account, documents mobility issues in the Capitale-Nationale with an often wry sense of humour.

These messages, accompanied by photos and videos, often focus on cycling infrastructure and, more generally, on the imperfections of a society organised around the car.

The Canadian Press spoke online to “Le marcheur de Québec,” who wished to remain anonymous.

“What irritates me is the reflex, typical of our automotive civilization, that you absolutely have to park your car in front of the place where you want to go. And if that means putting your car right in the middle of the cycle lane, well, you do it and it’s considered normal. In fact, there’s always parking nearby, you just have to walk a little. But cars generally make you lazy,” he observed.

“Often, it’s not very serious, but it sends out the signal that the cycle route is not always very safe, that it’s there, but that it’s moderately respected” and “if we want to develop a good cycle network, which encourages everyone to use a utility bike, this network has to be in good condition and respected. Parents need to be able to say to themselves: my child is going to use a safe route to get to school, and so on.”

Asked why he was documenting mobility issues in his city on a daily basis on social networks, the walker simply replied that he wanted to contribute, “in a very modest way, to changing perceptions,” to “help people see that cars are cumbersome, omnipresent and unpleasant when there are too many of them in the environment.”

A city where “there is room to walk, cycle and move around safely is so much more pleasant,” he concluded.

According to data from Vélo Québec, 2.1 million Quebecers use bicycles for utilitarian purposes, which means they use them to get to work, the grocery shop or school, for example.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews