Bike plan “consultation” launched
SMF has launched a consultation to update the bike plan for neighbourhoods.
This piece is so fraught with SMF Newspeak that it’s almost hilarious. If I were teaching journalism, here’s the exam I would set:
What does SMF mean by:
a) revision of its bike plan
b) broader public consultation
c) adapting cycling infrastructure
“A revised Plan Vélo is expected to be presented in 2027.” Still time to sell your bicycle and buy a car. Buy two cars, why not? There will be plenty of parking.
Ian 16:14 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
27 is only next year …
Kate 17:25 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
Well, clearly they don’t have enough information about cycling in Montreal to make any decisions this year, especially since the counters were turned off for the first part of the season.
Ian 20:39 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
If they actually do engineering studies like “real” urbanists in other cities, that’s just data, not a conclusion.
There were a lot of really bad implementations for bike safety & roadsharing in the SW. Having a “public consultation” that just means showing up at meetings and talking (usually FR only) if you get the chance is not a public consultation. It’s an announcement with some public participation. Contrary ot Velo-Qc’s lobbying, we can’t just shoehorn in fietspads and woonerfs & hope for the best.
I agree we need more bike infra, and roadsharing normalization, and A LOT more atte4ntion paid to pedestrians but it’s not as simple as slapping in whatever wherever.
Ian 20:48 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
pardon, I meant an ellpsis instead of a comma – “cities, that’s” should be “cities… that’s”
I get that you are annoyed by cars and car culture but you don’t ride a bike either – I use both.
Personally, I think road safety is really important, and that pedestrians and circulation are more than a street-by-street issue..
I see SMF considering all usage as it stands, not taking the “if you build it they will come” dreamscape PM seemed to embrace. If it takes more time, ok, maybe it will mean fewer studies that are simply ignored for political reasons like the PM effort to prove a Camilien-Houde bike piste was the only possible solution despite the studies they paid for that disagreed. They quickly learned not to have studies at all from that fiasco, Ferrandez even ragequit because PM wasn’t moving fast enough for his tastes. Maybe SMF will have a less reactionary approach – and really, I think the city has had enough ineffective reactionaries that ignore any problem that isn’t a special interest to last us a while.
Kate 09:03 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
Do you mean reactive, or reactionary, Ian?