Oct. 12, 1976: ‘Bicycle Bob’ Silverman rides for change

Back in the 1970s, Robert “Bicycle Bob” Silverman was widely thought to be highly eccentric. Now, he appears to have merely been ahead of his time.

Silverman did pull some nutty publicity stunts, though, in his quest to make Montreal a safer, more congenial place for cyclists. These included dressing up as a Moses seeking to part the St. Lawrence River in a quest for a bike path over a bridge, painting bike lanes on streets himself and organizing a mass influx of bicycles into the Métro at a time they were forbidden there.

This photo by Jean Pierre Rivest of a mask-wearing Bicycle Bob cycling through traffic was published in the Montreal Gazette on Oct. 12, 1976. It was accompanied by a story about a five-minute diein that Silverman and about 500 of his friends were planning for the next day at Ste-catherine and University (now Robert-bourassa) Sts. The point they were seeking to make, we wrote, was that cars caused thousands of deaths each year, not only from accidents but pollution-caused lung ailments.

“We’re not just talking about a change. We’re talking about the reconquest of the city, taking it back from the private car and making it a quieter, cleaner, healthier and friendlier place for people,” Silverman said in our story.

Silverman had founded Citizens on Cycles/ Le monde à bicyclette the previous year.

Our most recent interview with Silverman was in 2016; he was 82, and a resident of Val-david. We asked him what he thought of how much had changed for Montreal cyclists since the 1970s.

“It brings tears to my eyes. Especially the Bixi. It’s such a great idea,” he told us.