Believing that they are the big forgotten when it comes to public transit, the cities located in the Eastern North Crown of Montreal are organizing a forum on mobility on May 30, to better make their demands heard by the Government of Quebec.
Posted at 5:30 p.m.
“Currently, it’s faster to get to Montreal by vehicle than by public transit. As long as we are not able to give an alternative that is effective, credible and attractive, it will be difficult to change the behavior of our fellow citizens, “said Mathieu Traversy, mayor of Terrebonne, Monday during a press conference bringing together several municipal elected officials from the sector.
Public transport ridership has reached a historic low, after more than two years of the pandemic, and traffic congestion problems are still as important, denounce the mayors.
It must be said that the “train de l’Est”, which connects Mascouche to Montreal, via Terrebonne and Repentigny, has seen its route disrupted by the work of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) de l’Ouest. Due to work in the Mount Royal tunnel, the train now makes a 30-minute detour.
In addition, the future REM de l’Est may affect its ridership, since the two routes are parallel over part of their route.
“Our Mascouche train line, with parsimonious schedules, and absent on weekends, requires many transfers to get to the city center,” laments the mayor of l’Assomption, Sébastien Nadeau, who is also prefect of the MRC de l’Assomption and president of the Table des préfets de Lanaudière. “The current REM project does not offer any consideration for the citizens of the North Crown, while cannibalizing the already loss-making revenues of the Eastern train. »
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Guillaume Tremblay, Mayor of Mascouche
The train of the East, it is really necessary to question it and it is a little the objective of the forum.
Guillaume Tremblay, Mayor of Mascouche
Every day, 115,000 cars cross the Charles-de-Gaulle bridge, because the car is a much faster choice than public transit, underlines the mayor of Repentigny, Nicolas Dufour. “Our citizens feel held hostage morning and night in traffic,” he said. The overloading of the road network reveals both the dependence of our residents on solo driving, but also the lack of equity they suffer in terms of public transit. »
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Nicolas Dufour, Mayor of Repentigny
Because of this dependence on the car and the absence of an alternative to public transport, governments will have to invest billions in the maintenance, widening and addition of roadways, denounce the mayors.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, also president of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, traveled to Repentigny to attend Monday’s press conference. She also insisted on the importance of improving the public transport offer for residents of the region who have to travel to the metropolis, or between the cities of the North Crown.
Beyond the problems noted, the elected officials affirm that they will have solutions to propose during the forum, but they did not want to specify them on Monday.