May 3, 2026 - Montréal’s new Mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, has pledged an investment of $564.6 million over 10 years to maintain existing bike paths, build new ones and buttress the Bixi network. However, critics note that the budget will see only $5.5 million spent on Bixi in 2026, compared with $10.9 million last year.

Martinez Ferrada owes her election partly to a backlash by Montréalers over the expansion of the bicycle path network by the previous mayor, Valérie Plante. The recent funding announcement confirmed that rumours of the death of the city’s bike path network were greatly exaggerated.

Investments planned over the next decade will be roughly the same as outlined by Plante, including a signature project of the Martinez Ferrada administration — a so-called véloroute, which is a protected bike lane to be built alongside much of the 67 kilometres of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM).

Besides the Bixi cut, interim opposi- tion leader Ericka Alneus notes that on the surface the budget seems to be holding the line, but some bike path projects are no longer included in the capital budget, including no mention of the city’s notable REV “express bike network”.