Traffic congestion in the greater Montreal area cost motorists $6.13 billion in 2023, according to calculations by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM). A figure that will continue to rise if the pre-pandemic trend continues.
In an era of inflation, even road traffic is “costly.” Time lost on the road, additional fuel costs and vehicle wear and tear are just three of the parameters taken into account by the CMM to calculate the cost of traffic jams. All things considered, the cost of road congestion “is increasing year after year,” estimates Jean-Charles Hamel, research advisor for the CMM.
According to calculations by the Montreal Metropolitan Community, motorists could pay up to $10 billion in 2030 if the trends observed before the pandemic continue.
Traffic on the roads of the Montreal metropolitan area is essentially back to pre-2020 levels, according to Mr. Hamel. The pandemic had significantly reduced traffic on the metropolis’ roads, but it seems to have picked up again since then. “We are eager to have access to the 2024 data, but we are fairly certain that today, congestion is about the same as in 2019.”
Public transport to get by
In 2023, drivers in the greater Montreal area would have spent an average of 57 hours in traffic congestion, according to a study by INRIX, which ranks Montreal as the second most congested city in Canada. During peak rush hours, the average Montreal driver was driving at about 37 kilometres per hour, including on highways.
And in addition to being expensive, traffic jams “cause stress” for motorists, notes the researcher.
The solution to reduce traffic congestion costs is the subject of a consensus among experts, says the CMM. It involves investing substantially in public transit. This is the same solution that Valérie Plante proposed when the traffic jam costs for 2018 — the last time such figures were revealed — were made public. “It’s crazy!” she said of the $4.2 billion estimate revealed at the time.