Robert Silverman (Bicycle Bob)

Cycling and Activism

While cycling as a means of transportation was well-established in Europe, the practice was relatively uncommon in North America in the postwar decades (see Bicycling). It was only in the late 1960s and early 1970s that cycling began to grow, largely as part of the era’s counterculture and environmental movements. Cycling was not well-established in Montreal or Quebec and the practice was exceedingly risky in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1966 and 1976, an average of 68 cyclists were killed annually on Quebec’s roads. In 1974, 86 cyclists were reportedly killed in Quebec. Despite what was called a global “bike boom,” Montreal had neither bike lanes nor parking facilities for bikes in the early 1970s. It was in this context that Silverman committed his life to improving bike safety in Montreal.

Le Monde à bicyclette

Robert Silverman’s cycling activism was initially limited to the small circle of mostly anglophone cycling enthusiasts who lived in and around the Lower Main area of Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood (see Iconic Streets in Canada). It was by chance that he read a letter by Jacques Desjardins in the newsletter of the Fédération québécoise de cyclotourisme (today called Vélo-Québec). Desjardins’ letter argued that cycling could be more than a recreational activity and that bicycles had the potential to become key components of urban transportation. These ideas appealed to Silverman, who invited Desjardins and other like-minded people to a meeting in his Montreal apartment. This meeting led to the creation of the cycling advocacy group Le Monde à bicyclette in 1975. The group is recognized as Canada’s first urban cycling advocacy organization. (See also Active Citizenship.)

Did you know?

Le Monde à bicyclette raised awareness about cycling in Montreal by staging public events and protests. Early advocacy efforts included:

• presenting a bicycle to Montreal’s then mayor Jean Drapeau
• a parade of 3,000 cyclists
• a race between a bus, a car and a bike (which the bike rider won)

Protest Methods

Robert Silverman and the members of Le Monde à bicyclette developed a reputation for effective, attention-getting activism that often took on a theatrical quality (see Active Citizenship; Political Protest). Silverman referred to these dramatic public displays as “cyclodramas.” A year after the founding of Le Monde à bicyclette, members staged their first “die-in,” a provocative cycling advocacy tactic that involved people lying in the streets, pretending to be dead. These die-ins represented the cyclists and pedestrians who lost their lives to automobiles. Members of Le Monde à bicyclette also highlighted the need for improved cycling infrastructure by painting bike lanes on city streets without permission.

Silverman was also known for playing a prominent role in these theatrical protests. To demonstrate the need for a larger bike network, Silverman dressed as Moses to “part the seas” in an effort to help cyclists get across the St. Lawrence River. Silverman also brought large objects, such as ladders, baby carriages, skis and a cardboard cut-out of an elephant, onto Montreal’s metro system to protest the transit authority’s ban against transporting bicycles (today, bikes are allowed on Montreal’s metro and commuter train system). Another effort involved cycling around the city on bikes that were specially outfitted with poles to approximate the dimensions of a car, to demonstrate how much room cars took up on city roads.

Poetry and Cycling Terminology

Robert Silverman wrote poems to express his love for the bicycle and to share his critical opinions about the automobile. He also developed a unique set of terms that he frequently used during his campaigns to promote bike riding and improve public opinion of cyclists (see Bicycling).

Vélorution: a portmanteau (combination) of the French word for bicycle (vélo) and revolution. This term was used by Silverman to indicate that his protest and civil disobedience would culminate in a pro-cycling revolution in Montreal and other Canadian cities.

Cyclodramas: a play on words cycle drama and cyclorama. Cycle drama is a term used by scholars of medieval theatre to describe the episodes used to demonstrate the evolution of Christianity. A cyclorama is a building constructed specifically to house an often three-dimensional panoramic image. Silverman combined these two words to describe the street theatre spectacles he organized to draw attention to issues faced by cyclists.

Auto-cracy: An adaption of the word autocracy, which refers to a system of government led by one absolute leader, an autocrat or dictator. By placing a hyphen in the word, Silverman emphasized the absolute position of the automobile in contemporary society and that the needs and wants of motorists took precedence.

Bikeshevik: a hybrid of the words bike and Bolshevik. A bikeshevik is an individual who committed themselves full-time to the bikers’ revolution.

Politics

Prior to committing himself to the cause of urban cycling, Robert Silverman was politically active. He was vocal in his opposition to the United States’ war in Vietnam (see Vietnam War). Silverman also ran for local office twice, once as a Green Party candidate in 1984 and then as a candidate for Montréal écologique (Ecology Montreal) in 1990. (See also Environmental Movement in Canada.) He was also active with the organization Independent Jewish Voices (Canada) and advocated for Palestinian rights.

Legacy

Robert Silverman concluded his work with Le Monde à bicyclette during the 1990s. By that time, the city of Montreal made some important progress in the development of bike infrastructure, including the construction of bike lanes, allowing bikes to be transported on the city’s metro system and the creation of a bike lane to the South Shore of Montreal. By 2008, Silverman’s dream of a protected bike lane through the city's downtown was realized with the Claire Morissette bicycle lane, named for his friend and well-known Montreal cycling advocate.

Silverman’s tireless efforts to promote cycling, as well as his participation in Le Monde à bicyclette, helped transform Montreal into one of the most bike-friendly cities in North America. Today, there are over 3,000 km of bike lanes in the Greater Montreal area. The city of Montreal is also building the Réseau express vélo (Express Bike Network), a 184-kilometre-long network of protected bike lanes. Though Le Monde à bicyclette was disbanded in 1998 a new organization named Encore du monde à bicyclette was formed in 2014 to continue Silverman’s work.