Study finds e-bikes could reduce Montreal vehicle commutes by a quarter

A new study out of Montreal argues that the widespread adoption of electric bicycles could reduce the number of car commutes in the city by up to a quarter.

The study hopes more barriers to e-biking will be removed after looking at 1,000 cyclists over a three-year period.

"We put GPS on the electric bikes to track all the routes and the journeys these people made, and we meshed all that data together," said Equiterre spokesperson Anthony Cote-Leduc. "It demonstrated the enormous potential of this mode of transportation in terms of ecological, economic and health benefits."

The group found that in the Greater Montreal rea, up to 25 per cent of car trips could be replaced by e-bikes, and that because 70 per cent of Quebecers live in cities, the gains could be province-wide.

"Electrically assisted bikes reduce the journey time by 16 per cent on hilly terrain and 29 per cent on flat terrain," said Cote-Leduc.

The non-profit organization promoting cycling, Velo Quebec, said there's a misconception that traditional and electric bikes are only for big cities.

"Thirty-six per cent of Quebecers live within five kilometres of their work or study location, and, in smaller municipalities it's actually more than that where we're around 55 per cent of up to 60 per cent," said Velo Quebec spokesperson Magali Bebronne.

Equiterre is thus recommending that governments offer more electric bike-sharing services.

It also wants the province to give financial incentives to encourage the purchase and rental of more e-bikes.

"We saw in BC that that's working really, really well to help people to go on the bike instead of their cars," said E2-Sport co-owner Francis Marier. "Montreal is always up front so I think in terms of incentive in the bikes, they should help people to use electric bikes instead of cars."

Equiterre estimates that e-bikes produce 25 times fewer greenhouse gasses than electric vehicles.