During question time at the Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension assembly in Montreal, the borough’s mayor, Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, explained that “the city is not responsible for finding a parking space for every car in the territory.”
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On September 5, a resident took to the microphone to express her disappointment at the lack of parking in the district, to which the mayor responded that “that is not our responsibility.”
She also pointed out that it is “difficult to have a dialogue” with citizens who regret a problematic situation.
The complainant, who has lived on 15th Avenue for 15 years, claimed that “the bike lanes have taken away more than 80 parking spaces.”
“I counted them, there are more than 80,” she adds.
When winter approaches, it’s a situation that scares residents, declaring, “Even now it’s hell.”
In her opinion, the problem would be caused by the increasing population density in the district.
“The fact that on the 15th the city granted the right to build eight-unit buildings is just that,” she begins.
“Eight houses, eight tenants, so possibly eight cars, what do we do?” asks the exasperated citizen.
According to her, it is a problem that can be exacerbated in winter by closing the sides of the road for snow removal; “Where do we put the cars?”
For her part, the mayor reiterated that “the growth of the vehicle fleet is growing much faster than the growth of the population”.
“There are people who have two, three, four, five cars, but still 60% of people in our district travel by means of transport other than cars,” explains Ms Lavigne.
Their goal is to make the community space profitable to provide alternatives for people who don’t have a car.
“Currently, 2% of public space is safely reserved for bike lanes,” she explains.
Image taken from the City of Montreal website
In red, the REV axes are projected between 2019 and 2022. In black, the axes are projected into the future.
Ms Lavigne points out that “for us, it’s not safe for a family to ride a bike on a one-way street”.
According to the mayor, 20% of the city’s area open to the public is reserved for pedestrians, 3% for public transport and “everything else is reserved for cars.”
The city of Montreal plans to invest $30 million in developing new safer bike lanes by the end of 2023.
***See the excerpt from Question Time in the video above***