4 ms·

Bicycling is part of the mobility culture of Montreal, but whether Montreal is actually friendly to bicyclists is open to heated debate. Cars dominate the topo

Bicycling is part of the mobility culture of Montreal, but whether Montreal is actually friendly to bicyclists is open to heated debate. Cars dominate the topology.

spooky_deep 11mo ago
100%. Only a North American could consider Montreal bike friendly.
- betaby 11mo ago
  Montreal is bike friendly in comparison with Paris. Personal opinion of course.
  - spooky_deep 11mo ago
    Paris is not bike friendly (much better than a decade ago of course)
werdnapk 11mo ago
I really enjoy biking in Quebec city. I don't have as much experience with Montreal, but I can see how QC is a top spot.
betaby 11mo ago
> 'Bicycling is part of the mobility culture' That's a very {Plateau,reddit,no-kids}-centric view.
- heresie-dabord 11mo ago
  It's evident that people use bicycles in Montreal -- TFA itself attests this. But if your point is that North American cities all tend to have the same downtown/suburban contrasts, you are quite right. People who live $Downtown usually have walkable neighbourhoods and perhaps even access to underground transit. People who live outside the centre of the city mostly end up depending on a private vehicle. Bicycles are part of the mobility culture in Montreal. But Car Cancer has the same effect everywhere.
  - betaby 11mo ago
    > It's evident that people use bicycles They do. Also people who use bicycles in Montreal are disproportionately males and mostly of the certain age group. That's very apparent if you stay for ~10 minutes near Grande Bibliothèque for example or any other relatively busy piste cyclable. If you call it a 'mobility culture' it a very niche one. Bicycling is a thing for very specific demographics in Montreal in comparison with Amsterdam and even with Eastern European cities. Interestingly that high schoolers are not biking that much in Montreal, again in comparison. Biking to school was/is an exception where I live(d) in Montreal, i.e. Le Sud-Ouest, NDG.
    - heresie-dabord 11mo ago
      > If you call it a 'mobility culture' it a very niche one. And yet it is relatively successful in Montreal (as TFA says). If we are completely honest, bicycling could be called a niche activity in most of North America. > Bicycling is a thing for very specific demographics in Montreal in comparison with Amsterdam and even with Eastern European cities. For students, for example. I did say, "Bicycling is part of the mobility culture of Montreal". I did not claim more, and I also said that it's a controversial topic. On the positive side, Bixi has been a relative success compared to other Canadian cities.[1] (You know Bixi, so I'll add a link for others to read.) [1] _ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi_(bicycle_share_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi_(bicycle_share_system)
- queenkjuul 11mo ago
  Yeah people without kids aren't a part of the culture
sandworm101 11mo ago
Montreal's city leaders might be friendly. Its climate is not. Once the snow falls, the number of bicycle commuters plummets towards zero. Paris, vancouver, the netherlands ... they have stable climates condusive to bike use. At -10 it isnt the cars that will cause a crash, it is the physics of a two rubber wheels trying to navigate on ice. Also, Quebec is not a city. The city is called "Quebec City" just as how New York and New York City are very different places.
- prmoustache 11mo ago
  Tell that to the cyclists in Oulu, Finland. https://oulu.com/en/living/mobility/cycling/ https://oulu.com/en/living/mobility/cycling/ The thing is: after a snow fall, they prioritize the bike roads/lanes before taking care of the roads used by cars. When I was living in Switzerland, I kept a set of spare wheels with studded tires for those days with risk of ice. Riding on packed snow is perfectly fine on regular tires and ice is not dangerous when you have studded tires.
- jeroenhd 11mo ago
  > the number of bicycle commuters plummets towards zero That's proof that there's either a lot of progress to be made, or the local culture just isn't as tolerant to the cold. Cycling around -10 works just fine if the roads have been taken care of (which, in your example, doesn't seem to be case, as apparently they're covered in ice). With decent infrastructure, the difference between cycling 10 degrees above and 10 degrees below freezing is a matter of outfit.
  - sandworm101 11mo ago
    Ice isnt a product of cold. It is actually rare on roads in the high north. Ice requires melting and re-freezing, and gets more slippery when wet. Ice is a problem when the weather bounces back and forth around freezing. Each city will be very different, but those near the great lakes are famously impacted by ice storms. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_storms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_storms
- queenkjuul 11mo ago

Bicycling is part of the mobility culture of Montreal, but whether Montreal is actually friendly to bicyclists is open to heated debate. Cars dominate the topology.

spooky_deep 11mo ago

100%. Only a North American could consider Montreal bike friendly.

betaby 11mo ago
Montreal is bike friendly in comparison with Paris. Personal opinion of course.
- spooky_deep 11mo ago
  Paris is not bike friendly (much better than a decade ago of course)

werdnapk 11mo ago

I really enjoy biking in Quebec city. I don't have as much experience with Montreal, but I can see how QC is a top spot.

betaby 11mo ago

> 'Bicycling is part of the mobility culture' That's a very {Plateau,reddit,no-kids}-centric view.

heresie-dabord 11mo ago
It's evident that people use bicycles in Montreal -- TFA itself attests this. But if your point is that North American cities all tend to have the same downtown/suburban contrasts, you are quite right. People who live $Downtown usually have walkable neighbourhoods and perhaps even access to underground transit. People who live outside the centre of the city mostly end up depending on a private vehicle. Bicycles are part of the mobility culture in Montreal. But Car Cancer has the same effect everywhere.
- betaby 11mo ago
  > It's evident that people use bicycles They do. Also people who use bicycles in Montreal are disproportionately males and mostly of the certain age group. That's very apparent if you stay for ~10 minutes near Grande Bibliothèque for example or any other relatively busy piste cyclable. If you call it a 'mobility culture' it a very niche one. Bicycling is a thing for very specific demographics in Montreal in comparison with Amsterdam and even with Eastern European cities. Interestingly that high schoolers are not biking that much in Montreal, again in comparison. Biking to school was/is an exception where I live(d) in Montreal, i.e. Le Sud-Ouest, NDG.
  - heresie-dabord 11mo ago
    > If you call it a 'mobility culture' it a very niche one. And yet it is relatively successful in Montreal (as TFA says). If we are completely honest, bicycling could be called a niche activity in most of North America. > Bicycling is a thing for very specific demographics in Montreal in comparison with Amsterdam and even with Eastern European cities. For students, for example. I did say, "Bicycling is part of the mobility culture of Montreal". I did not claim more, and I also said that it's a controversial topic. On the positive side, Bixi has been a relative success compared to other Canadian cities.[1] (You know Bixi, so I'll add a link for others to read.) [1] _ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi_(bicycle_share_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi_(bicycle_share_system)
queenkjuul 11mo ago
Yeah people without kids aren't a part of the culture

sandworm101 11mo ago

Montreal's city leaders might be friendly. Its climate is not. Once the snow falls, the number of bicycle commuters plummets towards zero. Paris, vancouver, the netherlands ... they have stable climates condusive to bike use. At -10 it isnt the cars that will cause a crash, it is the physics of a two rubber wheels trying to navigate on ice. Also, Quebec is not a city. The city is called "Quebec City" just as how New York and New York City are very different places.

prmoustache 11mo ago
Tell that to the cyclists in Oulu, Finland. https://oulu.com/en/living/mobility/cycling/ https://oulu.com/en/living/mobility/cycling/ The thing is: after a snow fall, they prioritize the bike roads/lanes before taking care of the roads used by cars. When I was living in Switzerland, I kept a set of spare wheels with studded tires for those days with risk of ice. Riding on packed snow is perfectly fine on regular tires and ice is not dangerous when you have studded tires.
jeroenhd 11mo ago
> the number of bicycle commuters plummets towards zero That's proof that there's either a lot of progress to be made, or the local culture just isn't as tolerant to the cold. Cycling around -10 works just fine if the roads have been taken care of (which, in your example, doesn't seem to be case, as apparently they're covered in ice). With decent infrastructure, the difference between cycling 10 degrees above and 10 degrees below freezing is a matter of outfit.
- sandworm101 11mo ago
  Ice isnt a product of cold. It is actually rare on roads in the high north. Ice requires melting and re-freezing, and gets more slippery when wet. Ice is a problem when the weather bounces back and forth around freezing. Each city will be very different, but those near the great lakes are famously impacted by ice storms. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_storms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_storms
queenkjuul 11mo ago