This idea that the tramway that they want to impose on us as a structuring network in our city of Quebec will be the ultimate does not succeed in convincing me even after having read, heard and watched all the infomercials of the City. The promoters of the tramway praise it to us as spacious, modern, ecological, flawless!
This marvelous object of desire of our elected officials will make us endure an ordeal during the five-six years of work, which has already begun, of course!
Yes yes ! We have to completely redo everything for the passage of His Majesty the tramway, that is to say dig and move the underground pipes, widen the tracks at all costs, bulldoze, dust us, stun us and play with our nerves! But our tramway will be so dazzling that people will come from all over to live in Quebec or at least try it out. Whoops ! We will have to sacrifice a few majestic trees, a few hundred or a few thousand, we don’t know, but it doesn’t matter, we will replant so many! You know, trees, they filter pollution, they shelter us from the scorching sun, and they are very beautiful, especially when they have reached maturity.
Another thing that I don’t understand the logic of, although I know why, is why the tram is run in the middle of the road. For me, it’s heresy if we care a little about the users, who must cross at least one traffic lane, or two or three, before boarding. On the other hand, there will be a lot of fluidity to go up and down through the many doors of our public transport limousine. And the traffic will be stopped until all these beautiful people are safe, like with a school bus, right?
Another small inconvenience: on René-Lévesque, among others, there will be only one lane, shared or not, on each side of our proud tramway.
We hope that there will be no traffic accidents with injuries, especially at rush hour! How will paramedics, police and firefighters be able to rush to the scene when there is no place to park a taxi or delivery car on this high place of passage for the tramway?
Another aberration: to the question of a citizen who found it unfortunate to lose the Gérard-Morisset bus stop used by many elderly people in favor of the Maguire station, the answer was that the tram station did not have the space to settle elsewhere, but that there will be public benches along the sidewalks to help these people with reduced mobility to get to the station. Well yes, the same thing for customers of the Grand Théâtre, in all weathers and especially in winter, it will only be a short healthy walk to reach this sublime vehicle at the stop on rue Cartier or Parliament Hill!
No one has yet spoken of the tram breakdowns. It happens, however (Bordeaux, Valence, Lille, Lyon). And when that happens, what will be the solution for all those passengers left hanging? A bus that breaks down is a lesser evil, because it doesn’t block the whole circuit.
And in winter, there won’t be any problems, as long as the broadside does not exceed 15 centimeters! I imagine the median strip on Laurier Boulevard mired in snow, ice and slush. I can’t wait to see that, the miracles of the tramway! Again, it must not get stuck somewhere on the way, because everything would stop!
Make it complicated and expensive
Why make it simple when you can make it complicated and more expensive? I admit that this must be godsend for many of the workers and white collar workers associated with the nearly $4 billion megaproject. And that takes a tunnel, because the tram doesn’t have what it takes for the hills: we’re going to hide this little defect underground. But it’s only a small expense among all the rest, huh! Will there be any inconveniences associated with the tunneling works, such as noise for the residents of the neighborhood? But yes, it is obvious!
And then, you heard about the platform surrounding the tram, whose height is variable, more or less the height of a curb, which is normal for trams. It’s for safety: we’re going to be so safe that we’re going to be paralyzed!
Another reason to choose the tramway is that it will travel at 20 or 30 km/hour on average. Not enough to cause a heart attack, but in the end you will save time.
So ! When we look at the installation of the tramway elsewhere in the world, for example in Grenoble, the shopkeepers tell us that the time for the works was hellish, that many shops had to close, because the financial compensation offered was not up to height of the losses incurred. On the other hand, once the work is finished, life resumes, new businesses appear…
We are told that in Bordeaux the installation of the tramway also aroused a lot of recriminations, but that afterwards everyone was happy! So much the better for the people of Bordeaux, but the climate of Bordeaux is said to be warm temperate. Bordeaux has an average temperature of 13.8°C throughout the year… Quite comparable to Quebec City, isn’t it?
A mirage
The more I learn about the project and the progress of the tramway, the more I feel sorry. What sane person would have chosen this expensive project, which requires redoing everything from A to Z, which decapitates a large part of our trees, opens all the roads for months, requires a tunnel, because the machine is not strong on hills or on bends, will block our traffic and our emergency services on the René-Lévesque segment, will screw up the wetlands in the Legendre sector, will be blocked at the slightest glitch in the weather, at the slightest problem mechanical or computer. In addition, the City’s communicators were unable to give us a reassuring answer on the safety measures planned for passengers in the event of an incident in the tunnel…
Our new mayor, Bruno Marchand, boasts of being able to have his tram accepted for wear (18 months of targeted communication). I have read a hundred pages of the BAPE report on the opportunity of the tramway and everything is there to warn us of the mirage of this project. On the other hand, with the third link, our mayor will be very attentive to the findings of the future BAPE. Find the mistake !
After the deprivations due to the pandemic, we will be made to experience the hell of the establishment of our structuring network, that is to say a minimum of five years of noisy, polluting, disturbing work, which will transfigure without pity our city to run this tram called “Délire”.
I have a project: I’m moving!