The snow -removing cycle paths not so hated

There are indeed more supporters than opponents of a snow -capped cycle network, according to the data collected from 801 people surveyed living in Quebec City.
Just by the majority (52 %), respondents say they are “completely” or “rather” favorable to the fact that Quebec City denying some cycle paths of its territory in winter.
Opponents counted in an almost equivalent proportion, but minority, or 44 %.
The difference of the remaining 4 % does not decide on the issue.
In the file of cycle paths, the fringe of detractors is sometimes “vocal”, observes the vice-president and head of business strategy at SOM, Éric Lacroix. However, the protest, in reality, is not so strong, at least not as much as suggests the comments that are sometimes raining on social networks, he notes.
The enchanted city center
The ambitions of the mayor Bruno Marchand to develop a four-season cycle network worthy of the name in Quebec particularly appeal to the city center.
In the Sainte-Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge districts and the Cité-Limoilou, around two out of three citizens see a positive eye that the city sheds snow from cycle paths.
“It is clear that there are not as many people who use their bikes in winter. It is a very surprising result, since there are still few users, ”analyzes Éric Lacroix.
Elsewhere, in the outskirts, the other four districts display a minority support rate everywhere. The opposition even inflates more than 50% in Charlesbourg, Beauport and the rivers.
At 82 %, young people aged 18 to 34 are the most favorable to the initiative. Almost two -thirds of the 45 to 64 year olds camp on the contrary.
At least 50 kilometers more in winter
Since his arrival in post in November 2021 and even before, in the electoral campaign, the merchant administration has never hidden its ambition to see the cycle network extend. A commitment which she gradually concretizes, when she notably gave at the beginning of 2024 the kick -off of the project to create liveliness corridors (originally velocity). This “structuring network” will be by 2034 consisting of 150 km of sections accessible four seasons.
According to the calculations of Soleilthe mayor of Quebec added in his first mandate more than 50 km of snow -covered cyclables, for a total of 136 km for this season.
This posture has often attracted the discontent of certain motorists accusing it of war on the car. On social networks, road users have sometimes denounced cycling tracks better deleted than the streets or neighboring sidewalks.
Similarly, the cost associated with scratching cycle paths has often been questioned, in a context where the snow removal invoice observes a significant increase from year to year.
Each winter, Quebec City defends expenditure, which represents a meager proportion of the entire annual budget devoted to snow removal. Removing snow from the cycle paths represents approximately 1.6 % of the 2025 envelope, still quoted last November the vice-president of the Executive Committee, Pierre-Luc Lachance.
According to the city’s website, “the practice of four -season bicycle is increasingly popular in Quebec”.
In the first winter of the new cycle path of Chemin Sainte-Foy, on average 176 bicycle passages were recorded every day. Doing the calculation that around one cyclist in seven (13.9 %) maintained his bicycle practice during the cold season, the merchant administration was tarnished to record a proportion comparable to that of Montreal at the very beginning of the deployment of his Express bicycle network (REV).
Merchant “stabilizes”
Even if some of his ideas have raised a sometimes strong disapproval, Bruno Marchand displays a support rate that oscillates relatively little from survey in survey. The opinion of the voters of Quebec “stabilizes” in the most recent probeThe sunnotes the representative of the firm.
In the most recent probe, respondents say they are “very” or “rather” satisfied with their mayor’s work 43%.
“It is an apparent rise since October (38%), but it remains in the margin of error,” analyzes Éric Lacroix.
The proportion of dissatisfied remains in the majority, 51%. Last fall, a year from the municipal elections, she was the same. This time, the merchant administration displeases almost a third of the voters.
The undecided, spent from 11 % to 6 %, are moreover less numerous than they were last October.
“There are no more people who pronounce and who have a less negative opinion, in general,” calculates the sounder.
“The merchant mayor is not worse. The dissatisfaction has minimally stabilized, otherwise, there is a slight embellished. ”
— Éric Lacroix, vice-president and head of business strategy at Som
The portrait is however “less brilliant” when compared to other municipal administrations, he underlines, noting the enviable satisfaction of 65 % of the citizens of Lévis for their mayor.
“They do not play in the same league, illustrates Mr. Lacroix. Despite the fact that Gilles Lehouillier has been in power for much longer [2013]it still displays a 22 % higher satisfaction rate ”.
In other cities in the Metropolitan region of Quebec where citizens were surveyed by SOM, mainly at the Old Lorette and Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, the satisfaction rate climbs to 73 %.
This survey was conducted from January 15 to 17, 2025 to 1265 French -speaking Quebec adults from the Metropolitan Census Region (RMR) in Quebec (this question was asked only to 801 respondents in Quebec City). The sample was taken from the gold panel of Som, which is made up of individuals recruited randomly by phone (fixed and cellular). The data has been weighted to best reflect the characteristics of the population according to age, sex, household size, schooling, housing (owner/tenant) and the geographic sector. The maximum margin of error, for all respondents, is +/- 4.1 %, 19 times out of 20.