Workshop: Thinking Outside the Code

Montreal has more than 500 kilometres of bike lanes, as well as multi-purpose paths, such as the one along the Lachine Canal that commuters can use insurance quote.

After seven years of walking to work, Jamal Hashim started skateboarding along Sherbrooke St. to his downtown job.
“It’s really fun and a form of urban surfing,” says Hashim, who says his commute takes him about 10 minutes on his longboard, or about 25 minutes if he walks.
Kathleen Ng, another downtown resident, walks or bikes to her downtown office job year-round, something she began doing six years ago. She said it takes her 15 to 20 minutes to walk to work, or 7 to 10 minutes if she bikes – faster for her than driving or taking public transit free business cards.
But active commuting isn’t just for downtowners. I live almost 10 kilometres from The Gazette’s downtown office, and I bike to work. When I returned to work after a leave of absence, The Gazette had moved to a downtown location with only on-street or high-priced parking nearby. It was a good incentive for me to switch to active commuting, at least when the weather cooperated.
I admit I’m not a hard-core active commuter – I’ll bike in the rain, but winter cycling was not for me. I cycled to work until early December last year, and got the bike back out at the end of March, and took the train over the winter. I tell anyone who will listen how it’s great exercise, how it takes me less time than going by train, and it makes me feel less guilty when I have to drive our minivan somewhere credit reports.
If you live even farther than 10 kilometres from your workplace or school, a good place to start if you want to make your commute more active is to walk or bike part of the way. Suburban buses might not run often enough to let you take the bus to work, but what about cycling to a commuter-train station, parking your bike and then taking the train the rest of the way? Or take the bus and get off a few stops earlier and walk the rest of the way answering service.