St. Urbain bike path unsafe, bus drivers say

Montreal's bus drivers' union wants the city to move the bicycle path on St. Urbain Street from the west side to the east, claiming it's a dangerous route that makes accidents more likely to happen.

Drivers for the Montreal Transit Corp. have asked the city and the province's workplace health and safety board (CSST) to move the path from one side of the one-way street to the other.

The path currently runs down the west side of the north-south street – the same side as several stops serviced by the No. 55 bus.

The bike lane is marked by white lines, but there is no barrier separating cyclists from vehicles.

Drivers are worried about accidents because they have to cut off cyclists in order to  pick up passengers at the bus stops.

Having the bus and bike path on the same side of the street creates conflict "between the cyclists and the bus driver," said Tom Moutheros, a spokesman for the drivers' union (Syndicat des chauffeurs d’autobus de la Société de transport to Montréal).

"The bus driver has 40 people [on board], and he has mirrors to look at, and the cyclists are just small dots."

Drivers believe the path would be safer on the other side of the street, Moutheros said. As many as 1,183 drivers have signed a petition asking the province's workplace health and safety board to intervene.

The CSST has so far refused.

The city's transit agency will meet with the union later this week to discuss its concerns, a Montreal spokesman said.