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Bixi had a record-shattering year in 2017, with 4.8 million trips taken on the bike-sharing service, a 25-per-cent jump over the previous year.

If the first two months of this season are any indication, more broken records lie ahead — ridership is already up 35 per cent over the same period last year. Preliminary data and anecdotal evidence indicate overall bike ridership is rising in Montreal.

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The increase appears to be contributing to a drop in bicycle accidents, not a rise. Figures from Quebec’ insurance vehicle board showed that mortality and overall bike-vehicle accident rates dropped in 2016, compared to the previous five-year average.

It falls into a bike safety theorem cycling advocates refer to as “safety in numbers.”

“There is an insane number of people using some of the bike paths in Montreal these days,” said Marianne Giguère, the city’s associate executive committee member responsible for active transit. “So many that they are spilling out onto local roads where there are no cycle lanes. There are some advantages to that, under what is called the argument that mass makes for security, because once they fill the road, they slowly become accepted by drivers. When they are everywhere you end up accepting them because they are legitimized by their presence.”