As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and people stayed at home, cycling surged in countries around the world as people looked to escape isolation in a socially distant way. Case studies suggest Montreal did more than any other North American city to improve safe cycling during the pandemic, while Washington, D.C., was a leader among American cities. London, Paris, and Brussels fared the best in Europe.

“A big paradigm shift in thinking is going on,” John Bucher of Rutgers University told the AP. “In transport planning and policy and engineering, we have promoted driving for nearly 100 years. We have made driving fast, we’ve made it convenient.” Bucher and other global urban planning researchers note the outstanding question of whether the uptick in cycling during the pandemic will stick or whether commuters will revert to a car-centric lifestyle. (AP)