With more than a million Montrealers choosing to commute on two wheels, the city’s cycling advocacy group says more can be done to ensure safety on bike paths. Vélo Québec released its “State of Cycling in Montreal” report, which showed that 1.185 million people on the island took to two wheels, 941,000 adults and 244,000 children. In total, Vélo Québec found that 58 per cent of Montreal’s adult population cycled in 2025 with that number rising to 65 per cent in the centre of the island. Montreal, the organization says, has the highest proportion of adult cyclists among the major cities studied. “A lot of people are choosing cycling in their daily commute,” said Vélo Québec president Jean-Francois Rheault. “They do that because of the bicycle network. Over the last five years, there’s been a 10 per cent growth, but a nice growth with safe and efficient cycling network.” That 10 per cent translates to another 104 kilometres (1,105 total) of structured cycling network. The study followed the organization’s “State of Cycling in Quebec” last year, showing the reality of mobility in the province. The study found that 78 per cent of cyclists ride their bikes for their daily commute. BIXI bikes, the study found, has helped with this, with the company logging around 14 million trips, four times higher than a decade ago. Rheault said there remains potential to increase the cycling infrastructure. He said that 17 per cent of people who do not ride a bike in the city are interested in cycling if conditions are safer, and 22 per cent of trips made by motorized vehicles could be made by bikes and 46 per cent could be made on cargo or e-cargo bikes. “So we have trips, and we have people that are interested in cycling,” said Rheault. “So, all these things considered, there’s still potential to capture.” Even in the winter, 38 per cent of people in Montreal ride between December and March, due to the city’s efforts to clear snow. Men growing, women stagnant Rheault said that a reason to improve bike path safety is that while cycling is growing with men, women’s interest in riding a bike has remained stable. Where the bike path is secure, however, more women will ride. “On places like Rue Saint Denis, it’s really 50/50,” he said. “So we see more women riding on safe cycling infrastructure. So we need to continue to build cycling safe infrastructure, but we also need to continue to develop education programs.” He said education programs like Toutes à Vélo, designed by women for women, help make the mobility option accessible to women who have never learned to ride. “Half of the women that respond, they don’t ride because they don’t feel safe,” said Rheault. “So there’s something related to the quality of the of the infrastructure for sure.” Regardless, Vélo Québec feels cycling is a mobility solution for the economy, environment and health of the population. With reporting from CTV News Montreal journalist Christine Long.
