To avoid the crowds on the bridges, Myrtho Adrien decided to take the metro to work in Old Montreal. This resident of Longueuil is pleasantly surprised: she arrives on time for work. Without stress. But she has trouble digesting the bill of $341 per month for incentive parking and the metro pass.
“In the wake of the partial closure of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel, the message sent to everyone is: “Get off the road, take public transport”. I want to do my part, but I find that $341 is very expensive,” says this mother of two young children.
Myrtho Adrien applauds the establishment of free shuttles to Montreal for residents of Beloeil, Boucherville and Sainte-Julie during the three years of disruptions in the tunnel. But she finds it “unfair” that the rest of the population must fend for themselves at high cost. After all, congestion has increased on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge since work began in the tunnel.
Mme Adrien lives seven kilometers from the Longueuil metro. She goes there by car rather than by bus, because she has to take her two children to daycare and to the local elementary school. “The frequency of the buses is not high enough” to allow him to go to the metro without his car.
The Longueuilloise is delighted: the metro is fast, she has time to read, and walking (to and within the stations) is good for her health. However, she finds that the $150 metro card and the $191 per month fee for park-and-ride are exaggerated, insofar as she only has to pass three metro stations to go to work (at the Champ- Of March).
The price to pay
Axel Fournier, spokesperson for the Association pour le transport collective de la Rive-Sud (ATCRS), said he understood Myrtho Adrien’s frustration. However, the ATCRS supports the pricing of the incentive parking lot located near the Longueuil metro station. If people could park their cars for free in this key area, the number of cars would explode, he points out. This would cause traffic jams and affect bus traffic.
It’s not just metro users who pass by: three universities, Champlain College and a number of businesses have set up shop in the area. Parking pricing goes without saying, recalls Axel Fournier. The other incentive parking lots in the region (Saint-Lambert, Saint-Hubert, Beloeil, Boucherville, Saint-Bruno, Sainte-Julie) are all free, but that of the Longueuil metro is a special case.
Myrtho Adrien believes that the transport authorities should work together to avoid bills of $341 for metro users. She calls for free or low-cost incentive parking for motorists who take the Longueuil metro. “If not, where is the public transport incentive?” »
At the time these lines were written, the City of Longueuil, which operates this parking lot, had not been able to answer the questions of the To have to.
Controversial tariffs
Beyond parking costs, the ATCRS recalls that a series of measures are hampering the adoption of public transport, in this period of rush due to work in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel.
“Public bodies tell people to take public transport, but the service offer does not correspond to needs,” says Axel Fournier. Outside the main axes of the agglomeration, the offer of the Longueuil transport network (RTL) remains less than before the pandemic, according to him.
The RTL undertook on Tuesday to improve its service with the entry into service of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM), in the spring of 2023. But shortcomings persist for users.
The thousands of occasional users of the Longueuil metro who go to the station on foot or by bike thus suffered a major fare increase, on 1er July 2022. The price of a one-way metro ride went from $3.50 to $5.25, then temporarily to $4.50 (in the face of popular discontent), due to the Regional Authority’s fare overhaul metropolitan transport (ARTM).
“The vast majority of occasional users benefit from this new title,” recalls Simon Charbonneau, director of public affairs and communications at the ARTM.
The new fare of $4.50 allows you to take the RTL bus and the metro with a single ticket. Previously, casual users had to purchase two tickets at a total cost of $7. A reduction of 45%, underlines the ARTM.
One network, several tariffs
People who live close enough to the Longueuil metro to get there on foot or by bike are subject to a 30% fare increase for their one-way trip to Montreal. The increase will be 50% when the full price of $5.25 comes into effect. These users do not take off.
“When I get a raise that way, it’s really not an incentive to take the metro,” says Marie Magistry, who walks to the Longueuil metro.
She launched a petition against this tariff overhaul, which had been signed Tuesday evening by 12,837 people. The petition also targets metro users in Laval, who are undergoing the same rate overhaul.
Marie Magistry believes that all metro users should pay the same fare (for zone A), regardless of their starting point. Longueuil is just two stations away from Berri-UQAM. However, Longueuil residents pay 30% more (and subsequently 50% more) than Montrealers who have to travel 12 metro stations to get to the same place.
“I find it scary,” adds Guy Rivest, a 67-year-old resident of Vieux-Longueuil. He walks 15 minutes to get to the metro “to exercise and save a little money”. This retiree pays almost three times as much to take the Longueuil metro since the fare overhaul of the 1er July: single fare increased from $1 to $2.85 for people aged 65 and over.
“I don’t stop myself from going to Montreal, I’m taking classes at UQAM, but this price increase shocks me. Especially with the rising cost of living. Pensions are not indexed to inflation,” adds Guy Rivest.
The ARTM recalls for its part that “the principles of the overhaul and zonal pricing have been the subject of consultation and consultation with more than 4,000 stakeholders for more than two years. They were adopted by all of the elected representatives of the five sectors of the metropolitan region sitting on the ARTM Board of Directors”.