Montreal is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in North America. There are interconnected bike lanes across the city, Bixi bikeshare stations, bicycle parking every few blocks and a population with a more European sensibility when it comes to normalizing bicycling as a routine form of transportation for not just getting exercise but commuting, running errands, visiting friends and other daily activities.
You can't talk about biking in Montreal without mentioning the pioneering Bixi bikeshare system. Founded in in Montreal in 2008, Bixi Montreal was the largest bike sharing system in North America when it launched in 2009. Since then, the company has expanded to Boston, Chattanooga, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Ottawa, Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago and the campuses of Washington State University and Blackberry. Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare surpassed Bixi Montreal as the largest bikeshare system in North America, only to be topped by the recent launch of CitiBike in New York. Bixi Montreal currently operates 5,050 bikes and 405 docking stations in the city as well as Westmount and Longueuil.
As with other Bixi bikesharing systems, you can pay for a monthly or yearly membership and receive a key card to unlock the bike, or you can buy a day pass with an unlock code. If you go over the 30 minute time limit between dockings, you start paying for the trip. Like other cities, there is a Bixi app with a GPS map that allows you to easily find the nearest docking station and exactly how many docks are free and how many bikes are available. Of course, the map doesn't figure in terrain so I had to travel down a steep hill from Mount Royal Park to get to the docking station and then ride back up the hill.
Many Bixi docking stations are conveniently located next to or near Metro subway stops so it is easy to make a transfer. And if you are one of the many Montrealers who own private bicycles, there are plenty of bicycle parking racks. However, the bike racks can get really crowded.
Since Bixi bike share systems are all over the world, occasionally you can spot a bike from another city. For example, I saw Melbourne, Ottawa and Washington, D.C. bike share bicycles docked amongst the grey Montreal bikes. Being from Washington, D.C., it was interesting to see a lonely shiny red Capital Bikeshare amongst a sea of grey Bixi bikes. I almost felt compelled to try to take the bike back home with me where it belongs in the nation's capital.
Once you hop on the bike it is really easy to navigate the city via the many interconnected bike paths. While not as comprehensive as cities in Europe, compared to other North American cities, Montreal is light years ahead in terms of biking infrastructure. My home base was in the enclave of Westmount which is where the two-way bike path along De Maisonneuve Boulevard begins. You can ride this bike path through downtown, to just past the Place des Arts. It is amazing to see the amount of bikers during rush hour. The boulevard wouldn't be out of place in Amsterdam or Paris with the frequency of bike commuters.
Although I have to say that some Montrealers have, how shall I say politely, a bit of a French attitude. I had to take my Bixi bike on the sidewalk to get to a docking station and it is the law to bike on the street, so an elderly woman yelled at me to stay off the sidewalk.
There is a bicycle and pedestrian path that runs along the edge of the Mount Royal Cemetery, ending near the entrance to Mount Royal Park. There are neat little signs along the path directing bikers when to walk their bike or when to exit. And of course this being Francophile Quebec, all the signs are in French. So you need to know that Fin is not just the ending credit for artsy silent movies, but actually means End in English!
Mount Royal Park is a wonderful place for bicycling. After getting my picture taken with a Bixi bike in front of beautiful man-made Beaver Lake, I biked along the pathway across the park, which is on a hill overlooking the city and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also helped design New York's Central Park.
The wide paths are ideal for cruising and taking in the natural scenery. There is a bike rack for those who want to walk up the steps to the Mount Royal Chalet for spectacular views of the downtown skyline.
On another sunny summer day, I biked to Atwater Market and then along a revitalized and beautiful Lachine Canal. There are dedicated bike lanes on either side of the canal and the route is flat so it is a really easy ride. There are five locks along the way and if you are lucky like I was, you can see the lock in action either letting a boat enter or exit.
While biking along the canal, I saw something that I didn't believe at first sight. It was a man bicycling on an inflatable raft while floating down the Lachine Canal. I learned later that the floating bicycle kit is made by an Italian manufacturer, but a man in the San Francisco Bay Area is working on developing affordable and practical water bike kits by 2015.
While Montreal still has a long way to go in achieving a bicycle infrastructure that connects across the entire region, and while Bixi has had some growing pains with recent financial problems, the city is still way ahead of most American cities so there is a lot to learn about how to incorporate a world-class bike transit system into your city. I would encourage anyone to spend a day or two biking around Montreal and experience the wonder of traveling on two wheels around Quebec's Metropolis.
Here are more photos of bicycling in Montreal:
Here is video of biking around Montreal:
Here is video of the man water bicycling down the Lachine Canal:
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