Arrival of the REM on the South Shore | The RTL announces a “major” transformation of its network

The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) will announce this Thursday a “major” redesign of its bus routes, in view of the arrival of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) on the South Shore in the spring. Several local lines will be enhanced around future stations and outside of peak periods, while new routes will emerge. A first in 30 years for the organization, which sees an opportunity to boost traffic.

“The REM forces us to arrive with a completely redefined offer, to better meet the needs of users. Travel habits and frequencies are no longer the same with the pandemic. There are now many more needs throughout the day,” said RTL Director of Transportation Planning and Development, Nicolas Tanguay, in an interview.

This “reorganization” has been the subject of consultations for five years, he said. Over 1,700 residents were consulted in total. A new “interactive map” will be put online this Thursday, to help users find their way around the new network. Information meetings are also scheduled for March 21 in the cities of the agglomeration, to present the project to the population.

In total, approximately 1,400 departures will be offered each day to and from the new REM stations.

Thus, 29 lines will be connected to the three REM stations on the territory, namely Panama, Du Quartier and Brossard.

The main changes

To improve services “inside the agglomeration” of Longueuil, the RTL will first create a new line, the 160. This will leave from Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, then go to Saint- Hubert and the future Panama station of the REM. Line 192 will also be put back into operation, departing from Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville towards this same station, and will operate mainly during rush hours.

In the Gaétan-Boucher–Milan corridor, a new line will also be set up to direct traffic to the REM. In addition to running more frequently – every 30 minutes – line 32 will also be extended to serve the south of Autoroute 30 towards the REM, in the Faubourg Cousineau sector. This has “developed a lot in recent years, and we had had a lot of requests in this regard,” says Mr. Tanguay.

On boulevard Taschereau, line 77 will now run on weekends in order to offer “more accessibility”. Until now, line 177 service operated on weekends, but had no service to La Prairie, up to boulevard Matte.

In Brossard, line 21 will now allow residents of the Portes de Londres district to connect to the Du Quartier du REM station. A new express line, the 421, will be added to the service on boulevard Grande Allée, to the Saint-Hubert industrial park.

Quartier DIX30 will be better served than ever, going from three lines to eight: lines 4, 14, 21, 32, 38, 47, 132 and 192.

More generally, the RTL also intends to continue the deployment of the “on-demand service”, which allows you to reserve your bus trip using a mobile application. A pilot project has already taken place in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, and we now plan to do the same in Brossard, north of Route 132, in the Saint-Laurent sector, where many seniors have recently settled. . Line 31 will now also be in service there all day, including during off-peak periods.

An increase in traffic in sight?

For Nicolas Tanguay, it is very likely that the overhaul of the RTL network will lead to an increase in its ridership, still strongly affected by the passage of COVID-19, to around 75% of the pre-pandemic level. “We saw it with major projects like the extension of the metro in Laval: it causes a considerable increase in traffic. We expect it to give new impetus to our recovery,” he said.

For Mr. Tanguay’s group, the arrival of the REM also and above all means that buses will no longer be able to travel on the Samuel-De Champlain bridge, towards the city center. The popular lines 45 and 90, which go from the South Shore to the Bonaventure station, will therefore have to be abolished, so as not to enter into “competition” with the REM.

However, exceptions will remain: line 55, for example, which connects Saint-Lambert via the Victoria Bridge to the city center, will be able to continue to return in the opposite direction via the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge.

Mr. Tanguay certifies that this overhaul of the network will be done “at zero cost, and even at a lower cost”. “The fact that the services between the South Shore and the city center have been withdrawn allows us to reinject part of it into our local network”, indicates the director.

The RTL expects to generate savings of around 35% by withdrawing its services to the city centre. “It will allow us to maintain our offer at 92% of what it was before the pandemic, which roughly corresponds to the savings that we were asked to make with the arrival of the REM,” concludes Nicolas Tanguay.