I Visited the Best* City in North America
Not Just Bikes・49 minutes read
Montreal is a large Canadian city with a focus on enhancing public transit, cycling infrastructure, and pedestrian-friendly streets, showcasing a mix of housing types and a vibrant French culture. Despite some progress, Montreal's urban infrastructure still faces challenges like highway congestion, deteriorating highways, and limited surface transit, with areas outside the city center being car-centric.
Insights
- Montreal showcases a robust public transit system with a Metro featuring rubber-tired trains, planned extensions with automated light rail systems, and an extensive network of bike lanes, reflecting a commitment to sustainable urban mobility solutions.
- Montreal's urbanism presents a mix of successes and challenges, with vibrant pedestrianized streets, innovative cycling infrastructure, and a rich historical and cultural backdrop, juxtaposed against shortcomings such as deteriorating highways, inefficient surface transit, and car-centric downtown areas, calling for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to urban planning.
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Recent questions
What is the public transit system like in Montreal?
Montreal boasts a robust public transit system, including a Metro with four lines and 68 stations, offering frequent trains during peak and off-peak hours. Plans are underway to extend the system with an automated light rail system called the REM, featuring driverless trains and platform screen doors for safety.
How extensive is Montreal's cycling infrastructure?
Montreal is renowned for its extensive cycling infrastructure, with over 900 km of bike lanes, including the Rev network of express bicycle routes. The city's cycling infrastructure varies in quality, with innovative temporary solutions like Flexi sticks and temporary bicycle traffic lights.
What are some unique features of Montreal's pedestrianized streets?
Montreal pedestrianizes about 10 streets every summer, some spanning dozens of blocks, adorned with art, quotes, temporary installations, greenery, and fun activities. People of all ages enjoy these streets, although inline skating, skateboarding, and mopeds are prohibited.
How does Montreal address urban transportation efficiency?
Montreal's urban transportation efficiency faces challenges, with highways cutting through the city, diverting traffic onto city streets. The removal of streetcars in the 1950s and 1960s for car infrastructure reduced street capacity, hindering urban transportation efficiency.
What are the main criticisms of Montreal's urban infrastructure?
Montreal's overall urban infrastructure is criticized for its lack of safety, poor public transit outside the core region, and excessive reliance on cars, despite some promising improvements. The city's urbanism quality drops off quickly outside the city center, with car-dependent areas and poor infrastructure.
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Summary
00:00
Montreal: Vibrant city with innovative urban planning
- Montreal is one of the largest cities in Canada, with recent projects to enhance public transit, install protected bike lanes, and pedestrianize many streets.
- The city is located on an island called E de maral, with a vibrant mix of walkable neighborhoods and a rich French language and history.
- Montreal boasts a robust public transit system, including a Metro with four lines and 68 stations, offering frequent trains during peak and off-peak hours.
- The Montreal Metro uses rubber-tired trains, based on Parisian technology, known for reliability despite not being quieter.
- Plans are underway to extend the public transit system with an automated light rail system called the REM, with driverless trains and platform screen doors for safety.
- Montreal's housing landscape differs from other Canadian cities, showcasing a mix of single-family homes and condos, eliminating the missing middle housing issue.
- The city is renowned for its extensive cycling infrastructure, with over 900 km of bike lanes, including the Rev network of express bicycle routes.
- Montreal's cycling infrastructure varies in quality, with innovative temporary solutions like Flexi sticks and temporary bicycle traffic lights.
- The city is experimenting with proper bus stops and pedestrian-friendly street designs, governed by 19 boroughs and 15 cities cooperating on local decisions.
- Montreal's progress in sustainable urban planning is evident in redesigned streets like Pine Street, featuring protected bike lanes and improved pedestrian crossings.
14:43
Montreal's Summer Pedestrianized Streets: A Unique Feature
- Montreal pedestrianizes about 10 streets every summer, some spanning dozens of blocks, a unique feature in Canada and the United States.
- People of all ages enjoy these streets, adorned with art, quotes, temporary installations, greenery, and fun activities.
- Cycling is allowed on pedestrianized streets, but inline skating, skateboarding, and mopeds are prohibited.
- Cross streets still permit cars, with temporary bollards directing traffic, sometimes leading to odd placements due to parking lot access needs.
- Montreal's pedestrianized streets are well-designed, considering their temporary nature and the need for removal at summer's end.
- Montreal's urbanism has major shortcomings, with highways cutting through the city, diverting traffic onto city streets.
- Montreal's extensive highway network, built in the 1950s and 1960s, is now deteriorating, with no funds for repairs.
- Removal of streetcars in the 1950s and 1960s for car infrastructure reduced street capacity, hindering urban transportation efficiency.
- Montreal's surface transit is lacking, with slow buses stuck in traffic, unreliable schedules, and long dwell times at stops.
- Montreal's bike share system, used as a walking accelerator, is insufficient compared to good surface transit, facing issues with scalability and bike redistribution.
29:19
Montreal's Varied Urban Infrastructure and Transportation
- Montreal has long stretches between cross streets, but the bidirectional path was recently replaced with wider one-way bicycle paths on either side of the road.
- Montreal has many cross streets on two-way cycling paths, with some intersections having stoplights, making cycling slow.
- Montreal's intercity train service is limited, with only six trains per day to Toronto, but they have a local car-sharing program called Communauto.
- Montreal's Rails to Trails projects, like the former train station in Valde, would be more valuable if still connected to Montreal.
- Montreal's urbanism quality drops off quickly outside the city center, with car-dependent areas and poor infrastructure.
- Montreal's neighborhoods vary in infrastructure quality, with some advocating for better urban infrastructure while others resist it.
- Montreal's suburbs are typical Canadian car-dependent areas with wide streets, lots of cars, and limited transit service.
- Montreal's EXO commuter rail system is mainly for suburbanites coming into the city for work, with limited usefulness for other purposes.
- Montreal's walkable islands, like the Plateau neighborhood, offer good urbanism, but veering off these areas leads to poor urban environments.
- Downtown Montreal is full of highway entrances, exits, and giant roads, making it car-centric and unappealing for cyclists or pedestrians.
43:29
Montreal's Challenging Urban Infrastructure and Navigation
- Montreal's train station is difficult to find due to poor signage and hidden entrances, making it challenging for travelers to navigate.
- The REM station within the train station is accessible but confusingly branded differently, adding to the difficulty of locating it.
- Accessing the Metro from the train station involves a convoluted route through various escalators, stairs, and doors, making the transfer inconvenient.
- Montreal's Metro ticketing system differs from others, requiring loading individual tickets or passes at physical machines, leading to long lines and frequent out-of-order machines.
- Temporary pedestrian streets in Montreal are praised for their design but are only open for a limited time each year, limiting their impact and functionality.
- Montreal's overall urban infrastructure is criticized for its lack of safety, poor public transit outside the core region, and excessive reliance on cars, despite some promising improvements.
