Tag Archives: cycling

The cyclist’s left-turn dilemma solved?

November 20, 2009 – 2:53 pm| Posted in Montreal
These police officers are acting legally

These police officers are acting legally

The Gazette's Max Harrold looks into an issue I've wondered about since I started urban cycling: If a cyclist is always supposed to keep to the right, how do you make a left turn on a multi-lane road?

Either go to the next intersection and cross there or, if and only if there aren't many cars around, signal you are shifting lanes with your left arm and move into the left lane and then turn at an intersection, like a vehicle would, said Suzanne Lareau, head of the cycling advocacy group Vélo-Québec.

Vélo-Québec is an advocacy group, so its interpretation isn't legal, but it seems to indicate that when it comes to left turns, cyclists should act like drivers and move into a left lane (except when there are lots of cars around, making multiple lane changes more difficult). Which means that the police officers on bicycles above that I spotted earlier this summer on Côte Vertu Blvd. were making a legal turn.

Of course, that doesn't stop drivers from honking at you.

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No bikes on Summit Circle … path

September 24, 2009 – 2:04 pm| Posted in Montreal, photos
No cycling on Summit Circle?

No cycling on Summit Circle?

A little over a month ago, I noticed a post at Berri-UQAM.ca with the title "pas de bicyclette à Westmount?" - two pictures without commentary suggesting that bicycles had been completely banned from the city.

I decided to take a look for myself. The pictures looked like they might have been taken near Summit Park, so I headed up there with my camera ("up" being the operative word, it's quite a hike from the bus stop on Côte des Neiges). Sure enough, at the corner of Summit Circle and Oakland Avenue, a small "no bicycles" sign.

The same no bicycles sign from the other side

The same no bicycles sign from the other side

I couldn't quite make out its intent. Is cycling banned on Summit Circle? If so, why? And why aren't there other signs saying that? Was it put up in error?

A bit down the street, I spotted another, similar sign:

No cycling, but where?

No parking, no cycling?

Being one of those curious journalist-y types, I emailed the city of Westmount asking what this was all about. After a few days, and with a standard template for answering citizens' questions, this email reached my inbox:

In reference to your question, the "no bicycle" sign is not meant for Summit Circle but only for the Jogging path along Summit Circle. The Jogging Path begins at the corner of Oakland and Summit Circle.

I hope that this information is helpful.

CS

The jogging path is that dirt path you see in the second and third photos. It runs along Summit Circle on the north side of the park.

Though it makes sense to ban bikes from this narrow pedestrian path, the signage isn't at all clear. No words, not even an arrow pointing to the path to give some indication where exactly the bicycles are forbidden. A cyclist passing by there would only look on in confusion, and perhaps go away with the impression that the summit neighbourhood of Westmount is filled with rich, bicycle-hating luxury SUV drivers who want to exclude those who don't fit on their better-than-thou pedestal.

Because that impression would be false, right?

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Expanded definition of “bike”

August 17, 2009 – 12:32 am| Posted in Montreal, photos

Scooter on bike path

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this does not qualify as a bike.

Then again, maybe I'm one of those people who judges these things too quickly.

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Are cyclists pedestrians or traffic? Turns out it’s both

August 12, 2009 – 4:00 am| Posted in Montreal, photos

A couple of weeks ago, Max Harrold, who writes the Squeaky Wheels column in The Gazette, put out a piece that paraphrased the SPVM saying that cyclists should respect pedestrian walk signals.

The column was later corrected, though it was after it caused some ruckus online from those who knew that the statement was wrong. The column the next week included a clarification to set the record straight.

So cyclists are vehicles and should respect traffic rules. Case closed, right?

Not quite.

In fact, if you actually look at the traffic signals along Montreal's most-used cycling routes, you see that the truth is far from that simple.

To demonstrate, I'll take parts of La Route Verte #1, the island's main north-south cycling axis and one of its most frequented routes.

Gouin at Christophe-Colomb

Gouin at Christophe-Colomb

We start from the top, at Gouin Blvd. and Christophe-Colomb Ave. Here, looking east, we see that cyclists are to make a right turn to get onto the Christophe-Colomb bike path. But is the light above red (indicating traffic on Gouin can't proceed into the intersection) or green (indicating that pedestrians can cross the street)?

If you argue that cyclists are traffic, then logically you must conclude that they have to make a right turn from the left side of the road, and violate signs on the other side of the intersection that say the only direction you can go is straight.

Christophe Colomb at Gouin

Christophe Colomb at Gouin

In the other direction, the same issue. The lights and signs indicate only a right turn is allowed, while the Route Verte turns left from here.

Verdict: Here, cyclists are expected to act like pedestrians.

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Where’s a cop when you need one?

August 2, 2009 – 1:47 pm| Posted in Montreal, photos
A row of cars parked in the middle of a high-traffic bike path on Boyer St.

A row of cars parked in the middle of a high-traffic bike lane on Boyer St.

It's bad enough when a car ignores the signs and painted lines and decides to park in the middle of a bicycle lane - actually, straddling both bicycle lanes - but it's even more annoying when other drivers follow the lead and park there too. Here we see at least half a dozen cars and vans parked on Boyer St., which is part of the Route Verte.

There were some mitigating circumstances here. There was construction in this area and the bikes were being detoured on to St. Hubert St. That also meant those green poles that normally separate the lane from the roadway were removed.

Still, there was no indication that the lane had been cancelled or that parking was allowed on it. So I wondered, where's a cop - or a parking enforcement officer - when you need one?

A parking enforcement officer surveys the scene and chats with an errant driver

A parking enforcement officer surveys the scene and chats with an errant driver

A police officer on his bike leaves the scene without giving tickets or ensuring the vehicles are moved.

A police officer on his bike leaves the scene without giving tickets or ensuring the vehicles are moved.

Oh, there they are. They didn't end up giving any tickets that I could see. The drivers agreed to move their cars, and the two officers left while most were still parked in the lane.

Still, it felt good to know that occasionally the authorities do notice these things.

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Oh, cadets

June 20, 2009 – 2:23 pm| Posted in Montreal, Opinion

Yesterday I saw a cyclist breeze through a red light, turn right from the left lane to go the wrong way down a high-traffic one-way street, all at an intersection with two police cadets on each corner.

Police cadets wait until the last second before clearing pedestrian traffic for a speeding ambulance

Police cadets wait until the last second before clearing pedestrian traffic for a speeding ambulance

And when an ambulance needed to get through, it was telling that eight police cadets weren't enough to clear an intersection for it in advance.

Cadets stop pedestrians from crossing on a flashing hand (in one direction only)

Cadets stop pedestrians from crossing on a flashing hand (in one direction only)

But thanks for making sure people didn't accidentally cross the street on a green light. That might have been dangerous.

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Scenes from the Tour la Nuit

June 9, 2009 – 5:35 pm| Posted in Montreal, photos

Even though I was working early Saturday morning, I passed by the Tour de Nuit on Friday night out of curiosity. And because it happened to be on the way home and I figured I might as well take advantage of the closed streets. I'd never been to either annual tour before, so I wasn't really prepared for just how many cyclists take part.

The Bixi stand was almost full. The Tour extended into Ahuntsic and St. Michel, where stands aren't available.

The Bixi stand at Mont-Royal and Garnier was almost full. The Tour extended into Ahuntsic and St. Michel, where stands aren't available.

Here's what I saw. For more pictures from the Tour la Nuit and Tour de l'Ile, see photo galleries from The Gazette and its cycling blog, as well as lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures on Flickr.

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CDN/NDG bike paths just lipstick on asphalt

June 2, 2009 – 2:24 am| Posted in Montreal, Opinion
De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. at Decarie Blvd.

De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. at Decarie Blvd.

You'd think that Côte des Neiges and Notre Dame de Grâce, being so young, urban, working-class and eco-friendly, would have lots of bike paths spread across its huge territory. And yet, when you look at a map, you see only one, along de Maisonneuve Blvd. next to the tracks.

So I'm sure plenty of people got excited when they heard last Friday that the borough is working to vastly improve its bike path network, adding a new east-west corridor on the north side, about where the 51 bus travels. It would start from the western end of the de Maisonneuve path, go up West Broadway, east along Fielding and Isabella, then along Lacombe and Édouard-Montpetit until it reaches the Outremont town limit, where it will link up with the new path along Côte-Sainte-Catherine Rd.

Well, almost.

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What part of “bicycle path” don’t you understand?

May 8, 2009 – 4:46 am| Posted in Montreal, Opinion, photos

joggers

Dear jogger douchebags,

I know it's a beautiful day and you want to take a nice jog around the park, but you must have realized by now that you're jogging in the middle of a bicycle path. For various reasons, most notably the speed difference between you and the cyclists who would pass you, it is dangerous for you and those cyclists for you to be jogging in our path. Acknowledging this by shifting to the side when you see us coming doesn't mitigate that, if only because you don't see us coming behind you.

It's not like there aren't enough places to jog in this city. Most streets have sidewalks on both sides, but even with this city's stellar reputation as a bike-friendly town, the bicycle path network is a patchy, disconnected mess. This is one of the few isolated bike paths in town, and you're standing in the middle of it.

I know there's something about the asphalt winding through the grass that is just so irresistible. If we could give you your own asphalt path to walk on we could.

Oh wait, there's one ten feet to your left. Your own special lane. There are even little icons painted onto the ground at regular intervals to make clear that there's a walking path and a bicycle path. Using our path when you have one of your own, that's just being a douchebag.

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Loblaws could do better

August 29, 2008 – 12:44 am| Posted in Business, Opinion

Unless you've been living under a rock recently, you've noticed Loblaw's's new ad campaign promoting locally-grown fruits as part of a green strategy. I applaud Loblaw for embracing greener policies, but there's still a way to go.

Take, for example, this bike rack outside the Loblaws at Jean-Talon and Park. Notice anything odd about it? The fact that no bikes are attached to it? The fact that it's at an odd angle? Well, that's because there's nothing anchoring this bike rack to the ground. Seriously. Go there right now and just walk off with it.

Instead, everyone hooks their bikes up to the solid railings nearby. Although that keeps the bikes relatively secure, it also interferes with anyone wanting to use the railings to help them up the stairs.

This has been going on for weeks now, which means Loblaws is either lazy or just doesn't care.

Underground, meanwhile, is a large parking lot that can hold over 250 cars. It's free for shoppers up to two hours.

I was surprised to find, at the far end, parking spaces for bicycles. No signage exists anywhere else to point cyclists here, which is probably why it's empty in the middle of the day (while bikes are locked to railings outside).

For a store so close to Park Extension, Villeray, Rosemont, Mile End and the Plateau, areas where bicycles are perhaps the most popular in Montreal, this store could make even a small effort to make cyclists feel more welcome.

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Nobody picked “bicytron”?

August 20, 2008 – 3:09 pm| Posted in Montreal, Opinion

You know, part of the problem of having other people pick names for you is that sometimes they pick stupid names.

It's even worse if "other people" is "the general public"

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Take a bike tour of Rosemont

August 15, 2008 – 12:53 am| Posted in Fun, Montreal

The Société de développement environmentale de Rosemont (yeah, I didn't know they existed either) is sponsoring a guided bicycle tour of the borough's environmental-friendliness. Perhaps more interesting is that at least one bike shop (Bicycle Beaubien) will be on hand to help you out with any bike needs and there will be some free food, all on the city's dime.

Route for SODER's bicycle tour of Rosemont

Route for SODER's bicycle tour of Rosemont

The tour starts at Bellechasse and 16th Ave. at 1:30pm on Saturday (Aug. 16). For more information, consult the press release (PDF).

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Name at least three things wrong with this picture

August 2, 2008 – 3:30 pm| Posted in Montreal, Pop quiz
Corner of St. Grégoire and Christophe Colomb near Laurier Park

Corner of St. Grégoire and Christophe Colomb near Laurier Park

(At least, from a cyclist's point of view)

UPDATE: Plenty of people got right answers below.

  1. The most obvious problem is that the bicycle chevrons painted on the road are backwards. Most people ignore them, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine an unthinking cyclist veering into the oncoming lane.
  2. The traffic signs clearly indicate a mandatory left or right turn. Because there is no specific bicycle signage, cyclists are by law required to obey traffic signs and not pedestrian signs, which would make the obvious course technically illegal. Cyclists should not use pedestrian signals unless specifically told to do so.
  3. A cyclist on the other side is blocking the oncoming lane, perhaps confused by the chevrons.
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Street sale mania

July 13, 2008 – 5:39 am| Posted in Montreal, photos

I pity people who have to drive around downtown this weekend. It's worse than usual because of all the street closures:

  • Ste. Catherine Street is closed between St. Marc and Jeanne-Mance because of a street sale this weekend
  • St. Hubert is closed between Bellechasse and Jean-Talon because of a street sale
  • The area around Place des Arts on Ste. Catherine Street is closed... just 'cause there's a giant stage there and no point in moving it between festivals
  • St. Catherine Street is closed between Berri (really St. André) and Papineau for the summer
  • The Latin Quarter (St. Denis and de Maisonneuve and the streets around it) is closed for the Just for Laughs festival
  • Notre Dame was closed last night near de Lorimier because of the fireworks
  • Crescent Street is closed between de Maisonneuve and Ste. Catherine for expanded terrasses and entertainment

And I'm sure there's plenty I missed. It all adds up to one giant headache for downtown drivers.

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Proposed bike rental system has issues

October 6, 2007 – 12:58 pm| Posted in Montreal, Public transit

Stationnement de Montréal is going to spend $15 million to setup a bike rental system downtown similar to the one launched in Paris in July. Except they'll spend 1/10th the money to have fewer bikes at fewer stations. And they'll charge 10 times as much. (See correction below)

Whereas in Paris the bikes cost the equivalent of $1.50 a day (plus a $150 refundable deposit), The Gazette reports the Montreal system would cost "as little as $1 per half-hour".

Perhaps difference in price is meaningless for most people. If it's necessary to get the system running then I'm all for it.

Then again, as Kate reminds me, there doesn't appear to be any insurance against bike theft. So if someone makes off with it while you're doing your shopping, you're on the hook for that deposit. Enough theft of these easily-identifiable bikes might drive people away.

CORRECTION: I goofed. The Paris system is 1 Euro a day plus the rental fee, at a rate which increases the longer you use it (which to me doesn't make any sense -- it would just encourage people to return a bike and take another one).

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Take your bikes outside – the metro doesn’t want them

June 29, 2007 – 2:20 am| Posted in Montreal, Public transit

A letter in today's Gazette complains about bikes being rejected in the metro. Normally, bikes are allowed outside of rush hours on the first car of every train.

Normally.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of exceptions. Days when there is, to use an STMism, an "achalandage important" which prevents bikes from being used safely. And looking at the list on their website, it looks like it's just about every day this summer.

The STM is maybe being a bit over-cautious about safety, but not as much as people may think. On Wednesday, as I took the train to see the fireworks, the human traffic was insane. Tens of thousands boarded trains (some had to be added to handle the extra load), crammed in tighter than during the peak of rush-hour, all headed to Papineau to either get on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge or the parking lot underneath it. All the escalators were set in the up direction (those going down had to use the stairs), and police were called in to handle the crowds.

Imagine having to take a bike on that.

The other concern is that allowing one person to take a bike on the train means you have to allow everyone to take their bike on the train. So events that involve bikes, like the Tour de l'Ile mean they have to ban bikes on those days too, even though other traffic is pretty close to normal. (The STM has since relented slightly on the Tour de l'Ile, allowing some stations to accept bikes but not others).

Consult the list for exact times, but as a rule of thumb don't count on using the metro during the evening or pretty well at all on weekends until the summer festival season is over.

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