Have you ever cycled to work one morning, only to be confronted with a violent storm that makes you not want to get back on your bike? Have you ever struggled to get your bike home after a mechanical problem? Have you ever been stuck with your bike on the wrong side of an inter-river link?
If you live in the Greater Montreal area, you will now have an additional solution to these irritating situations: the STM has just announced a pilot project to improve the schedules at which it will be possible to take your bike on the metro. Until now, weekday “rush hours” represented more than 8 hours of restrictions for bicycles. They will melt like snow in the sun and will only represent 5 hours per day, from 7am to 9:30am and from 3:30pm to 6pm. Better yet, from May 20 to August 20, these restrictions will disappear completely, and it will be possible to take your bike on board at any time!
Access to the metro is a long-standing demand for Montreal cyclists, as evidenced by the theatrical actions of Le Monde à bicyclette in the 1980s, which allowed access to the metro as we know it today. In addition to the exceptional situations where we have to use the metro, we would often benefit, on a daily basis, from being able to combine the best of the bicycle and the metro. Combining cycling and the metro means being flexible for short distances and fast for long distances. Nothing beats the bicycle for covering the first or last kilometers between the closest metro station and your initial or final destination!
To help Quebec households free themselves from their second – or even their first – car, we need to multiply the possibilities of intermodal transportation for all their needs. Combining bus, metro and bike or bike-sharing for daily commuting, of course, but also taking your bike on a river shuttle for a day’s cycling, or bringing your bike on intercity buses. And let’s not forget the trains: after three years of suspended service, bicycles should be back on board VIA Rail trains in the Quebec City – Windsor corridor in May.
Let’s rejoice in this good news, and let’s each do our part to ensure that the cohabitation on board is as harmonious as possible. In the case of the STM, we will sometimes have to let a busy metro pass and take the next one; we will have to momentarily separate ourselves from our cycling friends to divide ourselves between the different doors and cars; and we will have to show understanding when exceptional circumstances make it difficult to transport bicycles. These few adjustments will allow us to make this pilot project a success that will continue over time. We have everything to gain!
Jean-François Rheault,
President and Chief Executive Officer