Friday Video: An ‘Oh the Urbanity’/Streetfilms Montréal Mashup

In this very special edition of “Friday Video,” our Streetfilms colleague Clarence Eckerson is joined by Patrick Murphy of the Youtube channel “Oh the Urbanity!” for an exhilarating tour of Montreal.

As Eckerson has long advised, “Why go to Europe when best-practice streets are so much closer in Montreal?” And he’s right; the so-called “City of a Hundred Steeples” really has it all.

The city’s Réseau express vélo (the REV!) grows by the year. Dramatic traffic calming and daylighting make the city’s neighborhoods even nicer. Designs are innovative and cool. Streets around schools are safe. And Montreal is home to so many phenomenally long open streets and public spaces.

And it’s not just bikes! The city is in the midst of a transit expansion with Réseau express métropolitain (the REM!), a fully automated light rail that will be fully operational in two years. And don’t forget the Montréal Métro, which runs extremely frequently — rush hour headways are just three minutes! — making it simple to get around only by biking, walking and train.

So click below to enjoy the latest from one of North America’s greatest cities: