Bike lanes and other micromobility options occupy just 2% of street space in Montreal, a finding from a study by McGill University. Lead researcher Daniel Romm explains that this figure shows a clear misalignment between how much space exists for bicycles and scooters compared to their actual use.
Romm describes their approach as “a diagnostic tool.” By analyzing the square meters of infrastructure per traveler, they reveal how much space is dedicated to different transport modes. While car usage accounts for about 95% of trips, cars take up nearly 98% of the road space. Micromobility options, which include bicycles and e-scooters, make up 5% of trips but only claim 2% of the space.
In popular neighborhoods like Plateau-Mont-Royal and Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, the gap is even wider. Here, micromobility accounts for 22% of trips, but the infrastructure dedicated to it remains less than 5%.
The researchers examined dedicated infrastructures, such as bike lanes and BIXI docks, to understand this disparity. Even if they doubled the current cycling infrastructure, cars would still maintain over 90% of road space. Romm notes, “Micromobility infrastructure is incredibly space-efficient.” This means that adding bike lanes wouldn’t drastically reduce space for cars.
To address this, the study introduces the Equal Infrastructure Allocation (EIA) score. This score helps to illustrate how committed city planners are to providing equitable space for different types of transportation. Romm believes that better awareness of the small footprint of micromobility might ease public resistance to reallocating some road space from cars to cyclists.
The methodology used in this study can also be applied to other cities. According to Romm, this could help spotlight disparities in road design and support building safer transport systems. With urban cycling on the rise, cities around the world could benefit from this knowledge.
For more details on this research, you can read the paper published in the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research, which highlights the potential for more equitable street designs across urban landscapes.
