On the island of Montreal, the publication of the final report on the Eastern REM seems to make many happy. Mayor Valérie Plante is the first to share her enthusiasm. But disappointment is beginning to dawn on the side of the northern crown of the metropolis.
Saturday morning, The Press published the conclusions of this report of a hundred pages, in which we find a revised route that now goes to Laval, Repentigny and Charlemagne, at a cost of 36 billion dollars.
This new version would leave from Pointe-aux-Trembles to go to Cégep Marie-Victorin, a 34 km route with a ridership of up to 29,000 passengers.
“This time, we followed the right steps in planning and creating structuring public transit,” replied the mayor, asked to give her opinion on the report during a press briefing in the afternoon.
“I am very enthusiastic and I have always said it, it is necessary to be able to offer a much more interesting transport offer in the crowns”, she added.
Two connection points to the green metro line are also planned, namely the Honoré-Beaugrand and Assomption stations, in this project, which would be completely underground. This is a “major” asset in the eyes of the mayor, who speaks of increased efficiency against external bad weather.
Is a project of this financial scale realistic? Valérie Plante understands that the question is asked. However, she pointed out that the report takes all eventualities into account.
The mayor now wants to sit down with the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and the Ministère des Transports to discuss the costs related to the construction of the REM.
She wants to assess the need for the various elements presented, and says she is open to seeing if there is a way to reduce the bill. Creating a public-private partnership or using the Canada Infrastructure Bank are options to explore, according to her.
We have to believe in it. This project is necessary not just for the east of Montreal, but for the entire east of the metropolitan area. It’s major.
Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal
Shared feeling
“People in eastern Montreal deserve to finally have structuring, quality public transit to allow people to walk around their neighborhood and downtown,” commented Gabriel. Nadeau-Dubois, questioned during a press briefing on housing, Saturday.
What does he think of the colossal amount of 36 billion? “Building public transit costs money, but it is an investment for Montreal, an investment for the future, an investment that is worthwhile,” lists the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire.
Even in the city, some borough mayors share this joy. This is notably the case of Pierre Lessard-Blais, in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
“A 100% underground REM is a huge gain for Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve,” he wrote on Twitter. Our collective mobilization for quality of life and public transit is paying off today! I welcome the developments and continue the work. »
The Mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Caroline Bourgeois, thinks that “the population of the East deserves an investment commensurate with their needs”. She also welcomed the report on Twitter.
Disappointment in Mascouche
Called to react, the City of Mascouche indicated that it preferred to wait to have access to the report before making a decision.
“Our requests, in the east of the northern crown [de Montréal], were to make sure to have a structuring and efficient mode of transport. This is not the case of the line [actuelle] train from Mascouche. The single-player vehicle remains king and master of the northern suburbs, more than anywhere else in Greater Montreal, and this must clearly be remedied if we want to continue the densification effort, in this context of the housing crisis”, underlined by e-mail Danny Franche, press officer in the office of the mayor of Mascouche.
In May, the mayors of Laval, Terrebonne, Mascouche, Repentigny and the mayor of Montreal East went out in public to speak out in favor of one of the routes then under study, which included an extension to in Mascouche via Laval and Terrebonne.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Anne St-Laurent, Mayor of Montreal East, Nicolas Dufour, Mayor of Repentigny, Stéphane Boyer, Mayor of Laval, Guillaume Tremblay, Mayor of Mascouche, and Mathieu Traversy, Mayor of Terrebonne
According to the latest ARTM report, this route is not the one that was retained. “The two options for extending the north branch to Terrebonne and Mascouche are inefficient in terms of mobility and represent very high costs. […] given the distance of the routes, estimated at $39.9 billion and $42.9 billion, respectively,” the report read.
“We first need social acceptability,” said the Conservative Party of Quebec in a written statement. Avoid a tramway in Quebec which the overwhelming majority of people in Quebec do not want. Next, you have to ensure realistic costs. 36 billion is a lot of money. »
With information from Henri Ouellette-Vézina