Oh The Urbanity!

Rush hour in Montreal / l’Heure de pointe à Montréal

It’s only raining moderately so far.

Tour de l’île de Montréal

Back from Lyon. It was an excellent choice! While a longer flight than US cities, it’s actually been fun rethinking our travel plans in the past year and a half, seeing places in Canada and Europe that we probably otherwise would not have seen.

The Cours Charlemagne, a large road through central Lyon, was pedestrianized in front of the Confluence shopping mall in 2021. Trams + bikes + pedestrians.

Do you think they did a shadow study before building these so tall and close together?

It’s underappreciated just how many European cities are still figuring out bike infrastructure. Most aren’t Denmark or the Netherlands. Geneva, for example, doesn’t seem much better than the average North American city. Fantastic transit doesn’t necessarily translate to cycling.

European cities don’t have the best reputation for accessibility, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Lyon Metro has elevators at all stations (except one). Way better than home. They often go direct to the platform from the street and have ticket scanners on the outside to enter.

Actually, there was one. (Nissan Navara)

Two lines of the Lyon Metro are automated. Line D (here) was built for automation in the 90s, and Line B was retrofitted in 2022 (being originally built in the 70s). Wouldn’t it be cool automate the Montreal Metro?

What a view! (Lyon 🇫🇷)

True, they can be a barrier. I didn’t mean to suggest no one is discouraged, just that you can still have plenty of cycling.

Lyon has some very steep hills but the cyclists don‘t seem discouraged.

There’s a reason people love visiting Europe! (Rue Victor Hugo, Lyon 🇫🇷)

I love coming across urban improvements in Montreal that I’ve never seen before. This road beside a school (not far from a highway) was closed to cars to create a pedestrian space. It’s a weekend so no school but I did see a family playing.

When cycling is a viable way to get around your city, why wouldn’t they have cops on bikes too?

Extending onto the broader Quartier des Spectacles (basically: Entertainment District).

One of the first days where it feels like summer (21°C or 70°F) and Montreal’s downtown pedestrian street (Sainte-Catherine) is packed.

This is immediately beside a new REM station (des Sources in Pointe-Claire, a suburb of Montreal). The train is world class but the environment around? I sure hope you’re arriving by bus, not foot/bike. I actually think the REM is going to make me visit and complain about the West Island more.

My dream is to take pro-car politicians on a walk or bike ride through a thoroughly hostile environment like this and open their eyes. I don’t think many would accept though. (Bonus: The button didn’t even work! I waited four cycles and then just ran across.)

My first ride on the newest REM branch (to the West Island). Open house this weekend, full opening on Monday!

Big box parking lots are not my favourite places in the world, but this one at least has a bike share station and EV charging.

A hospital in Montreal with bilingual (French/Italian) signage.

Cars really are about self-expression for a lot of people.

A better shot. Seemingly plenty of room to park, yet it’s not allowed and they’re cutting into the sidewalk.

The strangest part is that the street seems to still have room for an entire row of parking on this side! No need to cut from the sidewalk. This parking is prohibited. I guess it’s not quite wide enough to meet the standards? But there are dozens of cars parked like this and no trouble passing.

This is real. The City of Montreal (specifically the new administration) really did cut into the sidewalk to create more parking spots / loading zones. There are a half dozen (or so) of these on this street.

Food delivery riders are drastically more common in the bike lanes of Toronto than Montreal. I don’t really know why. What city do you live in, and is food delivery a major user of bike lanes there?

Top 8 commuter rail systems (🇺🇸+🇨🇦) — with >10 million riders in 2025: 1. NYC (Long Island) — 103 M 2. NYC (Metro-North) — 72 M 3. New Jersey Transit — 63 M 4. Toronto 🇨🇦 (GO) — 61 M 5. Chicago (Metra) — 38 M 6. Boston (MBTA) — 30 M 7. Philadelphia (SEPTA) — 25 M 8. San Francisco (Caltrain) — 11 M

Such conflicting experiences in Toronto. Great memories in the neighbourhoods. Love the bus frequencies. Subway is 90%+ accessible. TOD! But roads feel so hostile: Fewer protected bike lanes. Cars can turn right through red lights. Pleasant side streets are disconnected, pushing you to arterials.

Toronto's new Eglinton Crosstown LRT going underground. The Crosstown averages 23 km/h below ground (westbound from Laird) and 19 km/h above ground (eastbound from Sunnybrook Park). Slower than the Bloor-Danforth subway (31 km/h) but faster than the Finch LRT (14 km/h).

I’ve always liked how Toronto buses and streetcars usually drop you off in the station, within the fare paid zone.

Toronto sunset.

“This country is too big for trains.” Have we tried making them fast?