Montreal City Weblog

Kate 10:36 on 2023-07-17 Permalink Reply  

• Thomas 11:09 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  Haha wow I hadn’t heard about this at all. I’m guessing there is a generational and linguistic barrier that has led to all those elderly, anglophone churchgoers parking in the bike path as if ’twere the most natural thing in the world.

  I’m actually there all the time and I can tell you that stretch of Dudemaine is the only place for miles where it is reasonably safe and pleasant to cross highway 15 (be it on foot or on bike), the other one being on Gouin where the highway passes overhead.

  So this is actually a critical piece of cycling infrastructure in our borough for getting from one side of the gigantic barrier that is highway 15 to the other while not being inside a car. I’m sure Jesus would understand.

• Thomas 11:19 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  I also enjoy the complete lack of analysis from TVA. They mention that the church has its own parking lot and that there is plenty of parking on the side streets, but it doesn’t go any further than that. LOL

• steph 11:30 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  With the address on Filion, I’d start by openly contesting the ‘la Ville permet aux véhicules de se stationner devant l’église’. Don’t give them an inch.

• carswell 11:37 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  The city has recently been doing some welcome work on the paths I often take to bike out to Lachine and points west.

  On Édouard-Montpetit up to CDN, the painted path has been widened and now has two additional lines marking a buffer zone between parked cars to the right and traffic to the left. West of CDN, the path has been moved to between the curb and the line of parked cars — a generally safer arrangement as the descent is quite steep and a lot of the vehicular traffic is rushing to the Décarie. Of course, lots of the parked cars impinge on the path, the drivers obviously more concerned about the possibility of their vehicles being struck by passing cars and trucks than bicycles. Also, a few residents are using the bike path as a dumping ground for yard trimmings (on purpose?) and garbage bins. Movers and delivery vans also sometimes park in the path, forcing cyclists to go onto the sidewalk, since parked cars now block access to the street.

  The through path stops a few blocks east of the Décarie and doesn’t pick up again till Fielding just west of Côte-St-Luc. (The route through Hampstead — Ellerdale along that strech — is particularly unfriendly to bikes, I suspect on purpose.) From Walkley westward it’s just been changed to the between-curb-and-parked-car arrangement all the way to West Broadway. However, for the few blocks before West Broadway, residents continue parking their cars next to the curb, blocking the path, despite its being painted with bike symbols and directional arrows. Have yet to see a car ticketed.

• Blork 12:18 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  Thomas is correct that the church has its own parking lot, accessible from the side streets. There is no excuse for parking in front of the church for normal services.

  It’s a bit different for things like weddings and funerals, where there is usually a procession of three or four vehicles for the immediate family or whatever. Traditionally, that procession is assured of immediate access to the main entrance of the church (this applies to pretty much all churches everywhere).

  That said, surely something can be worked out. While the church has a parking lot, it’s BEHIND the church, and requires walking around the building on a narrow sidewalk; hardly elegant for a funeral procession or a wedding party. But that isn’t more important than the safety of cyclists, so maybe the church needs to enlarge that sidewalk that goes around the building so as to make it better for processions. I think the Pope can afford that small reno job.

• Thomas 12:47 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  I don’t even think anyone is calling into question their God-given right to block the bike path for funerals, the locals just don’t want it blocked every single Sunday morning. I do wonder how they manage during snow clearing season — do they just flip off the snowplow operators, or do they somehow, miraculously, find somewhere else to park?

• John B 14:05 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  I’ve been following this a bit in some of the cycling FB groups. The main guy who’s spearheading this, (the one who had his family frolé by traffic while going around cars parked in the bike lane), has tried every official avenue possible – he’s talked to the borough council, police, and Mobility Montreal, and they’ve all said there isn’t anything they “can” do. “Can” is in scare quotes because I find this hard to believe, it is illegal to park in bike paths, if there’s nothing the police can do to enforce the law then I may have some banks to rob. This is definitely about the weekly blocking of the path on Sundays more than any special events like funerals.

  I finally looked at the church on street view just now. The church is set way back from the street, so much that the walk from the parking lot is probably closer than the walk from the street, blocking the path seems like pure assholery, maybe because it feels nicer to walk up to the front door of the church than to walk around the building. The church is also on a corner lot, the cross street also has a bike path, but with parking, and there is a walkway from the church doors to the side street, which seems closer than the street in front of the church. It may actually make more sense for funerals to use this side street, since it would be less far to carry the casket. For weddings, there’s an argument for using the street that’s the object of protests so you can get better pictures, but… take a look at the church, it’s not a church you choose for its looks.

  There’s a huge front yard in front of the church, they should just build a driveway for weddings/funerals/Sunday drop-offs and park in the parking lot or on the side streets. That’ll create some conflict crossing the bike path, but that’s better than blocking the path completely. I bet the city would even pay part of the cost.

• dwgs 14:09 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  Neither weddings nor funerals are scheduled on Sundays to the best of my knowledge.

• jeather 14:21 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  If they ticketed cars parked in bike lanes, they would have to stop parking official cop cars in bike lanes.

• mare 14:29 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  I have called (514) 868-3737 (the dedicated phone number to report cars parked in bike lane) a few times when I encountered cars on the bike path. At least once, when I passed the spot again on my return trip, the Green Onions parking enforcers had put parking tickets under windshields. I hope other cyclists call this number too.

  On this particular street it’s possible the parking enforcers fear being struck by lightning if they give tickets to churchgoers.

  (I still think that parked cars in NO-STOPPING zones, like bike paths and bus lanes, should be towed, not just ticketed. Bus lanes are much less effective in Montreal because there’s always that one car and then the bus has to merge into traffic…)

• Thomas 17:10 on 2023-07-17 Permalink

  @mare OMG, it seems like almost everyone feels entitled to use the dedicated bus lane in front of Sauvé metro as a dropoff/pickup location. Every time I come out of the station I see a car stopped there.

  I think in Montreal there is a comprehension issue, where people literally don’t understand the difference between no parking and no stopping, and also a civility issue, where people are aware of the rules but can’t imagine that they would possibly apply to them.