Montreal couple uses bikes to move all their things into their new home
Moving season is upon us in Montreal with plenty of people packing up their belongings into boxes and travelling across the city to their new homes.
In an effort to be environmentally responsible, one Pointe-Saint-Charles couple is moving their possessions by bicycle.
It's taken some time, but the move, they say, is going well.
"If there was ever a time to move by bike, we've got the luxury of time," said Mathieu Murphy-Perron. "It's not very far, so let's try it."
The couple doesn’t have any bulky appliances to move, but they do have lots of kitchen supplies and a large keyboard teetering atop a load of boxes strapped to a trailer attached to the back of Murphy-Perron bike.
"We're active people, we like biking,” Jaclyn Turner notes.
The couple insists it's about time all of us rethink the way we do things.
“Montreal might be the most bike-friendly city in North America, [but] we still have a long way to go in terms of normalizing all the things that we can do by cycling,” Murphy-Perron points out. “I've rented a cargo bike for the month, which is what we’ve used for boxes and smaller items and [there] hasn't been a single trip when I'm not stopped by a cyclist, pedestrian or motorist asking about it.”
Their king-size bed proved a challenge to move by bike, so they hired a professional who's been hauling heavy items by bike for 13 years.
“We're landscapers, gardeners, who don't burn any fossil fuels," explains Ian Christopher Goodman with Les Jardiniers à Bicyclette. “We use bicycles and trailers and if you have a couple of those, it's easily equivalent to a pick-up truck.”
Goodman says he doesn’t usually help people move their belongings, but decided to help make this challenge a success to spread the word that people can do almost anything by bike.
“It's surprisingly simple. We have an electric bike, easy, and this trailer makes heavy loads so easy to pull,” Goodman notes.
Gently easing the trailer, full of boxes and the keyboard, off the sidewalk and onto the road, Turner estimates the move has cost them about $500.
“It's been a very mindful way of moving because you pack each box very carefully, only taking two or three boxes at a time,” she said, adding they've done many trips back and forth between the two homes.
As they pedal off through the streets of Pointe-Saint-Charles with their life packed up on their bikes, a team of truck movers stop what they’re doing and yell some words of encouragement: "Bon déménagement! Good going, guys!"
The street is a little bumpy, forcing them to slalom slow and steady around potholes for fear of toppling their gear.
A few kilometres later and the trio arrive successfully at the new address on Sébastopol Street.
“We made it!” yells Goodman as he honks his bike horn.
As the keyboard moves into its new home, a new chapter in this couple’s life begins: no motors, just muscles.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Canada Post’s newest stamp features special cookies for Islamic holiday
Canada Post’s newest specialty stamps feature “melt-in-your-mouth” desserts to mark two Islamic festivals, the crown corporation announced Thursday.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Statistics Canada reports real GDP up 0.6 per cent in January as Quebec strikes end
Canada's real gross domestic product grew 0.6 per cent in January, helped by the end of public sector strikes in Quebec in November and December, Statistics Canada said Thursday.
Ukrainian child asylum seekers in St. John’s get class of their own
Roughly 50 children will gathered in a St. John’s classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history.