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Photo: François-Xavier Tremblay courtesy of Montreal Cycle Chic
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This weekend I had the good fortune of photographing in the city of Montréal during the MONTRÉAL BIKE FEST Organized by Vélo Québec. I have to thank Vélo Québec and Tourisme Montréal for inviting me to attend, and Fitz and Follwell for lending me the wonderful Linus step-through for the weekend.
It took me all of 5 minutes to fall head-over-heels in love with Montréal. I managed to snap a lot of great photos for the Montreal Cycle Chic Blog in between a crash course in cultural highlights and Québec politics. During the Friday night ride "Un Tour la Nuit," the verve of the citizens of Montréal floored me as young and old, Anglo and Quebecois, recent immigrants and long time residents, stood in front of their houses to cheer us on and also bang pots and pans in a sign of solidarity with the student protesters.
Québec has hundreds of miles of bike lanes, divided two-way bikes lanes, and separated greenways. I easily navigated the city in my endless hunt for the best bagel/pastry/local beer in the city. Riding a bike around another North America city with such an established infrastructure, I thought about the infrastructure ideas I would want to steal for Chicago– two way divided bike lanes, a bike share system, bike boxes that sit in front of cars. I also realized something Chicago has a wealth of — SPACE. Chicago roads are incredibly wide, and if the city of Montréal can fit a two way bike lane down Rue Rachel, I think we can fit one anywhere. I look forward to a lot of these infrastructure components being implemented in Chicago in the next few years.
Montréal Bike Fancy continues for the rest of the week, enjoy!
I just spent a weekend in Montreal a few weeks ago since I had a conference in a nearby city. I used Bixi to get around and have to say, that was the easiest way to get around a city with such great infrastructure. I was able to see way more than I thought I could in just two days. Very awesome :)
ReplyDeleteI was skeptical until I saw how many bikes locations they had. Even the locals use them! It's self-propelled public transportation!
ReplyDeleteToronto has Bixi bikes too but alas, Montreal has more bike lanes.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Quebec City but not Montreal. I've always wanted to go. Nice to see the student protesters are getting support and the French love of protect lives across the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteThe Linus step through is quite elegant.
SRaB I would love to go to Quebec city. I'll have to add it to the road trip plans next year : )
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