Good news for people who like bikes

When I’m not blogging (and sometimes even when I am) I work for a non-profit organization that specializes in alternative transportation. We promote public transit, carpooling and cycling in order to combat traffic jams of pollution-spewing cars which often hold just one person.

So yesterday, when my boss plunked down a bunch of newspaper clippings on my desk about a new bike loan system on Avenue Mont Royal, I thought: Great News! Twenty bikes will be available all summer, free of charge, at the information booth in front of Mount Royal metro.

The project is funded by local businesses (and subsidized by the city) with the goal of luring shoppers to the area without adding to the number of cars battling for road space and parking along the uber-trendy avenue. The borough mayor Helen Fotopoulos is also promising more badly-needed bike parking along the strip.

“That’s great news!” I told my boss. I’m a fan of any project that makes cyclists more legit on the streets of Montreal, and if business is on board, all the better: Down with the myth that environmental and economic interests are always at odds!

Apparently my boss disagreed. This wasn’t good news, she said, because our organization wasn’t responsible for it (the project is run by a group called Bécik vert.)

I stared at her for a moment, completely dumbfounded.

You see, we sustainable transportation advocates aren’t exactly overflowing with success stories. Sure the concept of sustainability is gradually leaking into the collective consciousness and the cost of gas – if not environmental concern – is opening consumers’ eyes to transportation alternatives, but working with businesses and governments is a painstaking process - you would think that we would be ecstatic about any progress in this field anywhere!

Yet this isn’t the first time that I’ve encountered messy politics, competition and even bitterness between NGOs that are supposedly working towards the same (or complimentary) goals. On one hand they will tell the public to “think outside the box” (in this case, to find creative solutions to getting around in the city) but their own vision gets stuck inside the box of their reputation and funding. (Some parallels can be drawn in the art community as Risa touched on in her last post).

Alas, there’s not much to be gained in arguing with the boss. I blinked my eyes a few times and then set my mind on the prize: I’ve got my own trusty éco-vélo handy, but the next time I have friends in town, I certainly intend to treat them to one of Montreal’s most authentic experiences: whizzing past the frustrated downtown drivers on a bicycle.