Sharing bike helmets = bad idea. You thought swine flu could spread fast, just wait until head lice starts jumping from head to head. Maybe that's just me being paranoid...
As for the lack of bikes, I also saw that in Montreal last week, but couldn't they just pay a summer student to ride a bike back to the station.
Anyways, this is what I am talking about when I want to see some dedicated routes (ROW) like this in Montreal:
Luton
Adding stoplights will force cyclists to obey traffic laws and now drat between moving cars.