Biking is booming in Montreal, and so are the number of tickets handed out to riders. Some cycling advocates, however, say the focus is on the wrong offences. Running red lights, riding on sidewalks, wearing earbuds or noise-cancelling headphones, and riding an electric bike without a helmet are some of the most common reasons police stop cyclists in the city. Preliminary data from the city shows that more than 9,500 tickets were handed out to cyclists last year, ranging from $80 to $100. That number is up 60 per cent from 2020, and the numbers have been climbing year after year since 2022. At Velo Quebec, program director Magali Bebronne says the numbers need context. She points out that police were handing out even more tickets before the pandemic. “Back then, we had 20 per cent more tickets,” she said. “We were around 12,000 tickets given out a year to cyclists.” Her biggest concern is what cyclists are being ticketed for. Bebronne says that a quarter of the tickets given last year for riding an electric bike without a helmet involved Bixi users. “We’d rather have the police focus on behaviours that put other people at risk,” she said, adding that spontaneous users who do not intend to take an e-bike, may be forced to as there are no other options at a Bixi docking station. This, she said, explains some of the infractions. Velo Quebec is calling to drop the requirement to wear a helmet for bike-share riders. It also questions the rule banning earbuds for cyclists and not drivers. “They might have a sound system that may be super insulated, they can still use headphones,” said Bebronne. Velo Quebec says the priority should be making the streets safer for everyone, with more attention on behaviours that affect pedestrians. “Pedestrians better protected and their priority better respected,” said Bebronne.
