Montreal has the first urban bike-share infrastructure in North America which helped push it on to the list of top 10 bicycle-friendly cities in the world. Photograph by John Mahoney, Montreal Gazette

With fuel costs soaring and environmental conservation in vogue, the bicycle is making a comeback in many cities, becoming a major part of urban transportation plans.

Men’s website AskMen.com (http://www.askmen.com) has come up with a list of the world’s top most bicycle-friendly cities.

1. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam’s comes top when it comes to bicycle-friendly cities and nearly 40 percent of all commutes in Amsterdam are done by bicycle.Public bikes are available to rent and plans to construct a massive bike parking structure at the city’s main train station are underway.

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

About 32 percent of Copenhagen residents are biking to work on a regular basis. The city’s pro-bike culture allows you to rent a public bike for free for just a deposit.

3. Bogota, Colombia

While government programs for bike riding aren’t as robust as those in Europe or America, Bogota has a demographic advantage that makes it a bicycle-friendly city – only 13 percent of residents own cars, which makes bicycles a necessity. In fact, once a week, the city closes over 70 miles of streets to vehicle traffic in favour of bicycle riders, joggers, skaters and others.

4. Curitiba, Brazil

Bicycle integration is at the core of the well-planned Curitiba. The city has been pushing cycling as the go-to mode of transportation for more than 40 years and the result has been the ubiquity of bike lanes. A vibrant bike-oriented activist community exists to promote bicycle riding as an alternative to auto congestion.

5. Montreal, Canada

Two years ago, Montreal embarked on a $134 million plan to revamp the city’s bike trails and create a more bicycle-friendly atmosphere. The plan included incorporating bicycle-friendly lock points into standard parking meters. The city currently boasts 2,400 miles of trails with plans to expand. Montreal also has the first urban bike-share infrastructure in North America, the Bixi program.

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