Josh Freed: I used to be fortunately caught in a mammoth Montreal folks jam

Article content material

I used to be caught in an enormous site visitors jam final weekend — solely there have been no vehicles.

Article content material

That’s as a result of it was a folks jam, the most recent pattern within the altering face of Montreal.

Article content material

The “site visitors jam” was brought on by two enormous colliding road festivals: one a graphic ebook fest that closed St-Denis St. for mobs of wandering readers; the opposite the summer-long Mont-Royal Ave. road competition, attracting tens of hundreds extra.

Since each happened within the Plateau, Canada’s densest neighbourhood, it was the biggest folks jam within the nation.

However a minimum of it was brought on by joyful pedestrians, not enraging orange cones.

The pedestrian jam was partly an early signal of our summer time frenzy, when Montrealers flee their houses like newly launched prisoners searching for sunshine and humankind.

Nevertheless it’s additionally a part of a way of life revolution in cities in every single place, as pedestrian energy flexes its toes. Listed below are the most well liked city tendencies In Montreal and elsewhere.

Article content material

Automotive-free summertime streets are spreading throughout the continent from New York to L.A. and Montreal.

A minimum of 10 main Montreal arteries will near site visitors all summer time — together with Ste-Catherine St. E., Wellington St., Bernard Ave., Duluth St. and St-Denis St. — turning them into huge out of doors bistros.

We’ve experimented with road closings for some time, however throughout the COVID pandemic, like many cities we relaxed our out of doors terrasse guidelines and reinvented our streets. Our new Balconville is Terrasseville, teeming with folks.

Road closings do harm some old-style outlets that when attracted citywide clients. However these are a dying breed in a world of on-line buying and suburban super-malls — like Brossard’s Dix30 mega-mall and the approaching Royalmount monster-mall.

Article content material

Article content material

Amble down closed-off streets like Mont-Royal and also you’ll see a Competition of Native Road Procuring. Pedestrian zones are actually one of the best ways to cease malls from consuming Montreal.

The 15-minute metropolis is one other red-hot world pattern, encouraging us to seek out our eating places, markets, tattoo parlours and Zumba lessons inside minutes of house.

Distant work has elevated this pattern since many individuals now spend most days of their neighbourhood, not their downtown workplaces.

Far-right teams crazily declare the 15-minute metropolis idea is a “world authorities conspiracy” to lock us up in neighbourhood cell rooms. Nevertheless it’s only a method to make our streets quieter, safer and cleaner — whereas exercising our toes as an alternative of our steering wheels.

Article content material

The large losers on this “go native” revolution are downtowns in every single place, since fewer workplace employees imply extra abandoned downtown shops, eating places and skyscrapers.

So we’ll want much more road closings and festivals to make downtown an leisure playground, price visiting for pleasure, not productiveness. How a couple of downtown Ferris wheel, or out of doors film screenings and symphonies?

Truly, occasions like which might be the rationale our Quartier des spectacles is at all times busy. Now, how about extra warmth lamps in winter?

Pedal energy: A 3rd scorching world pattern is biking, as bike paths explode from Bogota to Berlin, New York and Paris.

Luckily, Montreal is 30 years forward of the competitors with greater than 900 kilometres of motorcycle paths.

Article content material

That’s astonishing, given we’re one of many coldest, snowiest main winter cities on Earth and will focus on icicle paths, not bicycle paths.

So say because of “Bicycle Bob” Silverman, the zany, brainy, city guerrilla biking evangelist who died final 12 months. He reworked our metropolis by pushing to create bike paths right here many years earlier than hotter cities.

Bob actually modified the face of Montreal, and I not too long ago wrote a humorous youngsters’s ebook to have fun him, referred to as Bicycle Bob and the Bike Revolution.

Final 12 months, bike teams labored to get Bob the Order of Quebec, however the dishevelled, madcap Montreal visionary didn’t match the prim judges’ thought of who an Order of Quebecer needs to be.

Now there’s a petition to call the St-Denis bike expressway after Bob, which higher succeed.

Article content material

The largest spoke on this two-wheel revolution is the e-bike increase that’s filling bicycle paths in every single place with e-cyclists. Even in Amsterdam, the world biking capital, greater than half the bikes purchased are actually electrical.

Montrealers who haven’t biked since age 12 are all of the sudden e-biking to work, whereas our Bixi program retains increasing its e-fleet.

Many younger 20somethings desire e-Bixis, which provide quicker, sweat-free transport to highschool and work. It’s largely older of us like me clinging to common two-wheelers as a result of we nonetheless assume biking have to be train.

I believe common bikes will quickly go the best way of horse-drawn carriages. Folks as soon as liked these, too, however vehicles proved quicker and simpler — and comfort at all times wins.

Article content material

I wager chopping ice blocks was thought-about nice train, too, till ice dice trays made that pointless.

Including to this e-transport revolution are e-scooters, e-roller blades, e-hoverboards, e-unicycles and different e-contraptions swarming our streets.

It gained’t be lengthy earlier than octogenarian child boomers have four-wheel e-bikes with coaching wheels, whereas infants have self-driving e-carriages.

The losers are squeezed-out Montreal motorists, who could have their very own summertime Competition … of Site visitors. However most Montreal drivers have lengthy stopped complaining about bike lanes or summer time road fests, since we’re all cyclists or pedestrians, too.

So give up grumbling about site visitors, park your automotive for competition season, and put together to hitch the folks jam.

[email protected]