Commuting - Montreal commute

Nearly two years ago I got a camera for my birthday. To try it out, I decided to take a series of pictures of my ride to work. I have now scanned them. This is where I live in Montreal West - about 8 km West of downtown Montreal. The bike is a Minelli hybrid, a low end LBS machine, made in Montreal. I now ride a Peugeot hybrid.

Montreal West station at the bottom of my street - a 12 min/$2 ride to downtown. Its a good service for workers, but in the evening and weekends its the pits.

Then I ride 3 or 4 km along St Jacques st. It is a major road but much better than most bike paths - reasonably well paved, wide curb lane and since it runs along an escarpment no cross street intersections.

In the late 1800s, when factories lined the Lachine canal, people who came in from the country for work lived in places like this. They kept their horse and cart in the court at the back and worked delivering for the factories ( tanneries in this neighborhood)

Sorry forgot the attachment

This is the Atwater Market - as the picture was taken at the end of Sept the pumpkins are on sale. This is right next to the Lachine canal and I get on the canal bike path here,

Nice photos, what is the camera model?

The first photo, is that Westminster?

Don't rag on the train service, it really isn't that bad, I take it everyday I don't ride in from Beaconsfield!

The canal at the Atwater Market. It was closed to through traffic when the St Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959, but was open from the West end for ships delivering to factories on the canal till about 1970. This year it has been reopened for recreational craft of less than 8ft height above the water. The height restriction is dueto the headroom under the railway bridge seen in the distance.

The Des Seigneurs bridge. They were then raising the bidge to give 8' headroom and renovating the locks at the other side of the bridge

Nice pics - always interesting to see another commute :)

This is near the downtown end of the canal. I think this is the 8.30 train leaving Central Station for Ottawa (I left home later than usual that morning). The area wher this shot was taken from has now been excavated to provide a marina. There is a bike path on the other side of the canal.

This ship makes a trip once a week to the Magdallen Islands in the Gulf of St Lawrence. It has a roll-on-Roll-off loading door at the stern and carries feight mostly but will take a few passengers. The hydrofoil, up on the dock at the right, sat there for a couple of years, but last Friday I saw it taking a tour around the harbour.

Nice pics and informative text. Looks like a nice commute.

Anders K

There are two islands in the river here - St Helen's seen here and Notre Dame byond, where the Formula 1 race track is. The Concorde bridge I am on, only goes to these islands. To get to the South Shore I have to get on the Jacques Cartier bridge at the East end of St Helen's or a Bike bridge at the West end of Notre Dame over the Seaway St Lambert Locks. The Geodesic dome was the US pavilion in Expo 67.

The Jacques Cartier bridge - I will get on it where it crosses St Helen's Island. At the extreme left of the picture is a bit of the Molson's Brewery, which has been there since the early 1800s.

100 yds of unpaved path going down from the Concorde bridge onto St Helen's island.

St Helen's island is a very pleasant place. The main wildlife are pigeons and ground hogs, but I have seen foxes and skunks.

Mount Royal from the Jacques Cartier bridge - it isnt really a mountain but it feels like it to me when I ride up it.

The south shore from the point where the J-C bridge passes over the St Lawrence Seaway. The two hills in the distance are Mont St Bruno (the smaller nearer one) and Mont St Hilaire. My work is just in front of Mont St Bruno. The Jacques Cartier bridge has more traffic per lane than any other bridge in north America. They are in the middle of installing a new deck on it, and in the process have widened the bike/pedestrian path to about 8 ft.

The riding is easy for me through the suburb of Longueuil, since the blocks are long and narrow in the direction I go, with few intersections.

I can take this path for a couple of km if it hasnt been raining on the previous days. It is also good for riding home on hot afternoons because of the shade from the trees.

St Hubert airport. In the 1930s this was the main airport for Montreal. The R100 airship moored here after crossing the Atlantic on its proving run. It is now just used for business and training. The yellow plane is a PBY, WW II maritime patrol amphibian. After the war it was used for waterbombing on forest fires.

The picture

At work after 27 km. The Black Brant rocket made by Bristol Aerospace of Winnepeg is not as impressive as the Saturn V outside the Johnson Space Centre at Houston, but they have done a lot of useful work over the years.

Spire

Yes I live on Westminster.

The train service is fine for commuters, but if you want to go out downtown in the evening or the weekend - forget it. My daughter took it to John Abbot college 30 km west of here and she was never late for class once, but she had to choose courses that matched the train schedule. When she went to Concordia around the corner, she didnt wake up till 5 mins before the lecture and was late almost every day.

That's quite a commute you have, about as long as mine. The bus trip out there must be quite a bother when you do not bike. A couple of my friends (Concordia Work Term Students) work there too, I don't think any of them cycle :rolleyes:.

Thanks for the tour Andrew, very picturesque and historic, even a slice of Winnipeg!:D Bristol Aerospace, where the Black Brant is made is fairly close to where I live, and from where I work you can see where they burn off outdated fuel for it frequently.

It's great to see everyone's commute.

if I ever see a blue sky and sun here, I'll photograph mine.

Originally posted by chewa
if I ever see a blue sky and sun here, I'll photograph mine.

I think it might be a long wait. :rolleyes: