January 14, 2026 - (Montreal, QC) Montreal’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 reports the Montreal Gazette, but critics note that the budget will see only $5.5 million spent on Bixi in 2026, compared with $10.9 million last year.
In part, Martinez Ferrada owes her election to a backlash by Montrealers over how Valérie Plante’s administration – the previous mayor – expanded the bike path network, but rumours of the death of the city’s bike path network have been greatly exaggerated.
Investments planned over the next decade will be roughly the same as outlined by the Plante administration, 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.
Besides the Bixi cut, interim opposition leader Ericka Alneus notes that on the surface the budget seems to be holding the line, but some bike path projects no longer appear on the capital budget, including no mention of the city’s notable REV “express bike network”.
Read the full report in the Gazette here.
