Latest news with #Jean-FrançoisRheault
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
Montreal transit strike leads to extra traffic on some bike paths
MONTREAL - The head of a cycling advocacy group says Montreal's public transit strike has spurred record numbers on the city's bike paths. Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Vélo Québec, says devices installed by the city to count the number of passing bicycles are showing record or near-record levels since the strike began Monday. 'Nobody wanted this strike,' he said. 'But that being said, what we see is that cycling is a solution which is used by Montrealers to get around.' The strike by 2,400 transit maintenance workers has limited bus and metro service to morning and afternoon rush hours and late at night. Partial daylong service will resume Thursday, with some level of service disruptions expected until June 17, with the exception of the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Rheault says one bicycle counter on the corner of St-Denis and Rachel streets in the Plateau-Mont-Royal district recorded more than 11,000 trips on Tuesday for the first time since it was installed in 2020, despite a day that included rain and a severe thunderstorm warning. He says some bicycle paths are so crowded that riders are having to wait for more than one traffic light cycle to cross the street. 'We've had several reports from people saying that there were a lot of people on the paths, and it's not necessarily very comfortable,' he said. 'We're reaching situations of overcrowding, which actually translates to the fact that not all cyclists are able to cross at a light.' Information from several dozen bicycle counters around the city recorded 92,871 trips in total on Monday, compared to 80,961 the week before. Tuesday, with rainy weather, recorded fewer rides than the previous week. Although there were no citywide records broken, the data appeared to show spikes in traffic at a few key spots in the city. In addition to the 11,044 trips at Rachel street on Tuesday, the St-Denis/Des Carrières intersection saw 10,228 trips and the Berri/Banq counter reported 7,421. Christian Vermette, the chief executive officer of BIXI Montréal, a service that offers bike rentals and docking stations for short trips, says it added extra capacity to meet the demand just in time for the 'busiest day in its history' on Tuesday. 'We experienced exceptional ridership this week, with a 35 per cent increase in trips this Monday compared to historical figures and a record 83,897 trips on Tuesday,' Vermette said in an email. While day-to-day numbers can vary due to weather, Rheault said the number of people on Montreal's bicycle paths has been steadily rising in recent years. That growth has been driven by several factors, including a rise in winter cycling and the expansion and popularity of BIXI. Last year, the city's express bicycle path network, called the REV, reported about 1.6 million trips, which was about 100,000 more than the year before, he said. Rheault said the strike is a 'tragedy' for people with limited mobility, but there could be a silver lining. He said events such as the 2019 Paris transit strike and the 2012 flooding of New York's subway system during Hurricane Sandy served as 'turning points' that led to a permanent increase in bike ridership, after people who were forced to turn to cycling out of necessity ended up sticking with it. He said the same thing could happen in Montreal. 'For people getting around on a bike for the first time, I think for them it will be an experience of discovery,' he said. '...Maybe they'll adopt it, maybe they'll adopt it sometimes, maybe they'll never come back, but in any case, these situations where we're forced to review our mobility options don't happen often in life.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Global News
2 days ago
- Climate
- Global News
Montreal transit strike leads to extra traffic on some bike paths
The head of a cycling advocacy group says Montreal's public transit strike has spurred record numbers on the city's bike paths. Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Vélo Québec, says devices installed by the city to count the number of passing bicycles are showing record or near-record levels since the strike began Monday. 'Nobody wanted this strike,' he said. 'But that being said, what we see is that cycling is a solution which is used by Montrealers to get around.' The strike by 2,400 transit maintenance workers has limited bus and metro service to morning and afternoon rush hours and late at night. Partial daylong service will resume Thursday, with some level of service disruptions expected until June 17, with the exception of the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Rheault says one bicycle counter on the corner of St-Denis and Rachel streets in the Plateau-Mont-Royal district recorded more than 11,000 trips on Tuesday for the first time since it was installed in 2020, despite a day that included rain and a severe thunderstorm warning. Story continues below advertisement He says some bicycle paths are so crowded that riders are having to wait for more than one traffic light cycle to cross the street. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'We've had several reports from people saying that there were a lot of people on the paths, and it's not necessarily very comfortable,' he said. 'We're reaching situations of overcrowding, which actually translates to the fact that not all cyclists are able to cross at a light.' Information from several dozen bicycle counters around the city recorded 92,871 trips in total on Monday, compared to 80,961 the week before. Tuesday, with rainy weather, recorded fewer rides than the previous week. Although there were no citywide records broken, the data appeared to show spikes in traffic at a few key spots in the city. In addition to the 11,044 trips at Rachel street on Tuesday, the St-Denis/Des Carrières intersection saw 10,228 trips and the Berri/Banq counter reported 7,421. Christian Vermette, the chief executive officer of BIXI Montréal, a service that offers bike rentals and docking stations for short trips, says it added extra capacity to meet the demand just in time for the 'busiest day in its history' on Tuesday. 'We experienced exceptional ridership this week, with a 35 per cent increase in trips this Monday compared to historical figures and a record 83,897 trips on Tuesday,' Vermette said in an email. Story continues below advertisement While day-to-day numbers can vary due to weather, Rheault said the number of people on Montreal's bicycle paths has been steadily rising in recent years. That growth has been driven by several factors, including a rise in winter cycling and the expansion and popularity of BIXI. Last year, the city's express bicycle path network, called the REV, reported about 1.6 million trips, which was about 100,000 more than the year before, he said. Rheault said the strike is a 'tragedy' for people with limited mobility, but there could be a silver lining. He said events such as the 2019 Paris transit strike and the 2012 flooding of New York's subway system during Hurricane Sandy served as 'turning points' that led to a permanent increase in bike ridership, after people who were forced to turn to cycling out of necessity ended up sticking with it. He said the same thing could happen in Montreal. 'For people getting around on a bike for the first time, I think for them it will be an experience of discovery,' he said. '…Maybe they'll adopt it, maybe they'll adopt it sometimes, maybe they'll never come back, but in any case, these situations where we're forced to review our mobility options don't happen often in life.'
CBC
31-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Bixi is expanding beyond Montreal, sets up in 4 new cities this spring
More Quebecers will be able to ride Bixis this year, with the non-profit adding four more cities to its bike-sharing network. Bixi stations will gradually sprout around the Montreal Island area in Saint-Eustache, Deux-Montagnes, and Saint-Lambert, as well as in Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships. The organization is also beefing up service in Laval with 49 new stations, bringing the total number of stations there to 75. The city of Longueuil will see 22 new stations this spring. The entire network will be fully operational beginning on April 15, according to a press release sent out by Bixi Montréal. CEO of Vélo-Québec Jean-François Rheault says he's pleased to see Bixi is growing in the suburbs where people can combine the service with public transportation. He says the new locations seem to have the infrastructure to support the bike-sharing service. "Of course, Bixi is not the only ingredient to allow people to use cycling as a mode of transportation. You need to develop a network of safe and efficient cycling infrastructure," he said. "More and more cities are developing safe networks." In total, the number of bikes in the Bixi network this year will grow to 12,600 with about a quarter of those being electric bikes. Rheault says the scalability of Bixi's year-round service remains a challenge after he's heard from several people wishing they had closer access to the winterized bikes. "I think in the future more and more people are interested to use the Bixi system in the winter and today the limitation is the availability of bikes or the availability of stations in the different neighbourhoods," he said. People can suggest locations for new Bixi stations on their website, whether it's a specific neighbourhood or city.
