How To Build a Bike Lane that Breaks Records

It sounds funny to say, but this bike lane was a big influence on this channel. When we first moved to Montreal in 2019 we lived nearby and saw the city take Saint-Denis Street, a six lane road that we would never consider biking on, and turn it into the busiest bike corridor in the city under the concept of an “express bike network” (REV in French) that includes a few other routes right now and will include many more routes in the future. The Saint Denis express bike corridor was a big lesson in “if you build it, they will come”, and the number of cyclists has only been climbing.

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[TommyJonesProductions]

Here in Atlanta, the city invested in what they call the "Beltline", which is an old rail corridor that circles the city, making a 22 mile mixed use path that will eventually include a tram. The development that it has inspired has created almost a ten-fold return on investment. If you would like to do a video about it, I would be happy to help.

[olivierguinard]

I feel you guys don't address the traffic lights redesigns, that give cyclists a rather lengthy right-of-way, before it allows cars to turn right from St-Denis. While this isn't new (Boyer st had this at certain intersections), it's become a sort of norm on St-Denis and Christophe-Colomb. It is an absolute game-changer in my opinion and is pivotal to REV's success.

[danadian]

The experience has improved for all users, including drivers. It used to be a stressful drag race from light to light, now it is a drive down an attractive street at slow speeds. I would even consider living on the street. Something I would never have done before because of the traffic.

[davidhutchinson]

I'm so glad I gave up the car a few years ago. I just started running the numbers. And as work from home professional, I simply couldn't see the benefit anymore. My total UBER receipts for the month were about $200. But my car payment, insurance and fuel was over $800. To me, saving $7, 200 a year wins every time.

[KJSvitko]

Riding a bicycle is a great way to exercise. Ebikes are bringing many older adults back to cycling.
Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles. Safe protected bike lanes and trails are needed so adults and children can ride safely. Speak up for bicycles in your community. Bicycles make life and cities better. Ask your local transportation planner and elected officials to support more protected bike lanes and trails. Children should be riding a bicycle to school and not be driven in a minivan. Be healthier and happier. Ride a bicycle regularly.

[shadeblackwolf]

Being dutch, i'd say the gold standard, and what i would advise if that corridor gets even busier with bikes, is to move the bikes one street over, and make that a full on bike street, with a nice modal filter in the middle so that the only cars there ever will be residents. and that doesn't mean splinter it up or anything, but all the way down the grid, one street over as a dedicated bike throughfare. you can then even implement bike priority solutions where that throughfare intersects with other roads.

[geosophik]

The design itself protecting the cyclists is great. I hope every city in North America tries to implement it. Then I would get a bike again.

[forivall]

This is one of the things Vancouver needs: a good east west dedicated bike corridor. We just have lots and lots of twisting bike routes on side streets, but zero direct routes that actually go to all the way from East to West/vice versa anywhere near the middle of the city.

[obrienliam]

My visits to Montreal are so different than other North American cities. The Bixi-bike lane combo makes getting to different destinations part of the experience. I've seen more parts of the city in a week-long visit than my four years living there.

[ckidd]

Bike lanes for regular commutes, shopping, etc make so much sense.

[SonnyDarvish]

Germany that loves paint-only bike lane needs to watch this video.

[Keikdv]

#3 is so true, but in Utrecht, yes, in the Netherlands, lot's of bikelines are turned into 2-way. City says: A) One route to maintain B) half of the bikes does not need to cross the road. But: most cardrivers are still not used to see a bike coming from the right. Compliments on the system in Montreal!

[TimothyWhiteheadzm]

As much as a 'bike route' is better than no cycling infrastructure, the reality is that as long as you have 'bike routes' but cars can go everywhere, you are prioritizing cars and thus should expect more car traffic than bike traffic. If you treat them as equal you will get a lot more biking. Add bike lanes to almost every road on the island. And don't forget places to park at destinations. You have car parking spots along nearly every street but I didn't the equivalent amount of bike sparking on the same roads.

[iamzafarali]

Thanks for showcasing the REV! It was amazing to have this in my city and wished more had them!! ❤️

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

2:00 I’ve seen people get nitpicky and claim that using parked cars for protection still doesn’t work because “you can get doored by a passenger leaving the car.”

I think that’s a horrible argument for two reasons.

1) every car has a driver but not every car has a passenger. So simply putting cyclists on the passenger side drastically reduces risk.

2) you can build in a buffer space so that doors can get opened without going into the bike lane. That’s one good thing I noticed in your shots of this particular bike lane.

[KJSvitko]

Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses, electric commuter trains and trams are all parts of a good transportation system. Speak up for improved transportation options in your city. Every train station needs safe, protected places to park and lock bicycles. Children and older adults should be able to ride bicycles to work, school or for fun safely.

[bararobberbaron]

As a Dutchy it does my heart so much good to see cycling-as-transport slowly growing a bigger foothold and receiving some infrastructure improvements. Bicycle lanes can carry so many more people an hour than a motor vehicle lane, it's staggering. And this is a long way from a painted gutter, and a protected lane is a great improvement! Not every city can fit seperated lanes into the existing infrastructure OR the city budget. But any improvement is awesome. I hope one day y'all can experience that which I see many people here take for granted.

[Harveyb]

One of the great things about this channel is optimism standing on the shoulders of borne out reasoning. I've pointed out to my friends that every cyclist they see on those as yet imperfect but present (at least) bike lanes is one less car in their way. Usually that's enough to calm them down. But if someone says Yeah, but man I hate the ones who ignore stop and yield signals and they all do it. Then I ask them, in a collision between a cyclist abusing the right of way and a car, who will suffer the most? It's a manipulative ego boost, I know. But it fawns to their sense of superiority.

[freonflex]

Time to fix the link between canal Lachine and Berri. Litterally we are asked to walk by our bike on sections along the railway south of de la Commune, beetween Berri and Saint-Laurent. This is ridiculous. It’s like if instead of an interchange at intersecting freeways, you had traffic lights and asked people to walk by their car

[mattcantstop]

This looks great, but at 1:28 it shows how cars have to look behind them to cross the bike lane. I've seen that the Netherlands try to make all intersections with pedestrians or cyclists for cars in front of the car, not to the side. There is some room for improvement there. I was in Montréal last week and was amazed at how good the city is, and loved seeing the bike lanes. We stayed on Saint Denis and loved it (right by the Dickies store). What a great city.