The Cars are Going to be Alright

We are happy to announce that doctoral candidate Daniel Romm, along with colleagues, has just published a peer-reviewed, open-access article in the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research. In The Cars are Going to be Alright: Examining Micromobility Infrastructure Space Allocation and Potential Improvement Scenarios in Montréal, the team explores how street space is currently divided among cars, bicycles, and other modes, and models what happens when we reallocate more room to micromobility users.

Why This Matters

Many urban streets still prioritize cars, leaving cyclists and e-scooter riders squeezed for space. Using a novel Equal Infrastructure Allocation score, Romm and co-authors quantify the imbalance of street-space per traveller, borough by borough, in Montréal. They then simulate scenarios with dramatically increased micromobility infrastructure to see how (or if) this actually shifts the balance.

Core Findings

• Persistent Car Dominance: Even large-scale improvements to bike and scooter lanes have only a minor effect on the total space cars occupy.
• Equal Allocation Score: Provides a transparent metric for planners to communicate trade-offs and foster more equitable debates.
• Correlation Insights: The team links infrastructure distribution with socioeconomic, land-use, and crash-rate data to reveal where inequities are most pronounced.

The full manuscript is available via open access here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmr.2025.100071