Ghost bike removed after changes
A ghost bike was installed in a St-Denis Street underpass after the death of Mathilde Blais there in 2014. The risk that cyclists faced in underpasses was suddenly better understood. But Mathilde’s ghost bike will be ceremonially removed Sunday and sent to the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City, because the REV now means cyclists don’t face the same risk in that spot.
Update: Around 100 people attended the ceremony, including Valérie Plante and Steven Guilbeault. A plaque has been placed as a memorial, now that the bicycle has been taken down.
CBC says it was the first ghost bike in town but I’m not certain that’s so. Vélos Fantôme lists a 2013 bike on Park Avenue, near St-Viateur, not far from the old Navarino, and another on Wellington from the same year.
fred 01:29 on 2021-08-23 Permalink
Ghost bikes go back a lot longer than 2013, ffs. take it from an old active cyclist and former bike mechanic. they are also a very personal thing, sacred, to be quietly respected not blogged about. perhaps in the 90s and 00s we should have kept lists, before cycling became cool and green and a half-assed election issue and we had social media to tell everyone. ghost bikes are solemn shrines to the unknown fallen and should be kept that way.