Montreal is making an effort to accommodate winter cycling, which is much appreciated.
However, as an urban planner, it is not my personal preferences and choices that matter, but whether winter cycling is a realistic mobility solution for Montreal. I have argued elsewhere that, for many people, winter cycling is not feasible.
Here is one of the reasons why.
Plummeting temperatures and icy ruts
Last Saturday temperatures dropped from 0C to -17C in a few hours after dusting of wet snow.
Cycle paths were cleared before the wet snow stopped – which is great: Montreal is looking after its cycle paths.
However, the quick freeze meant that, as it continued to snow, the snow iced over fast, leaving a few inches of rutted ice along many bike paths (sidewalks were bad too).
On my Monday-morning commute, this is what I was cycling across:
It looks innocuous, but what you are seeing is virtually sheer ice. It is rutted, so one’s front wheel is constantly thrown around. With nothing to grip on, even a studded tire did not prevent oversteer and instability. Even though the city had, after the freeze, spread grit, this was not uniformly distributed, and left plenty of icy ruts.
The roads are clear. They were probably cleared after the cycle lanes: so cycle lanes were prioritised. But that is not the main reason why car lanes are clear: cars, by virtue of their weight, tend to crush the ice and wear it down. Furthermore, they work the salt and grit into the ice, helping the wearing process.
It is now Thursday : the cycle paths this morning were still icy, because it has not yet warmed up. Today, with temperatures that should be around -7C, the salt and grit will do a better job, and hopefully the ice will clear
Why not cycle on the roads with the cars?
First, a good part of my ride is on a bike lane that runs against the traffic.
Second, even though the car lanes are clear, the edges of these roads are often very icy, forcing bikes into traffic: not great at the best of times, and especially not on cold mornings with sun in drivers’ eyes and fog on their windows.
There were a handful of cyclists out with me at 7.30am Monday morning: it is possible to cycle if you don’t mind the cold (-17C on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings), the occasional fall, and very tentative cycling. It is not a viable mass mobility option.
It is hard to escape private cars
The point I am making, in a variety of different ways from post to post, is as follows.
Montreal, which gets a lot of snow, which regularly has large temperature swings, and where, even though the City makes genuine efforts, clearing bike lanes is not always possible (and can be down to lucky timing), cycling (and active mobility more widely) is not a viable solution for winter mobility.
It is the integration of active mobility and other options – such as public transport and cars – that is the way forward.
For those lucky enough to live close to the centre (approximately 16% of Montrealers live in central neighbourhoods with decent public transport – see the research by Gordon et al) that is already the case. I am fortunate: I choose to cycle to work. However, provided I can cross about 400m of sidewalk one end, and a further 300m the other (sidewalks can also be very icy) I can take the metro or bus.
For many Montrealers, those who live in neighbourhoods difficult to serve with public transport, and where (e)bikes may be viable in summer for trips of up to 10km, cars are the only option for much of winter.
I obviously wish this were not the case. But until we find solutions for getting around cold and icy suburbs (as well as getting kids to school, shopping, etc..) I do not know how we will convince a majority of Montrealers to turn their backs on automobiles.
Richard Shearmur 