We are already talking about the REM in East Montreal as a fait accompli, even if the BAPE study remains to be completed. This future white elephant should be abandoned immediately. Recently in The duty, Louis R. Gagné pointed out that the REM will primarily serve commuters. But how many people from the South Shore or the western suburbs will want to go to Pointe-aux-Trembles? A new (pink?) Metro line to the northeast, combined with an extension of the green or blue line to the end of the Island, would allow both commuters and the population of the east to connect to a network that already covers a large part of the city. Does the REM aerial project risk disfiguring residential neighborhoods? Two metro tunnels already pass through the city center. Why build a new one?
Elsewhere, light trains or surface trams would be less expensive and more attractive than the REM. More electric buses, in reserved lanes, could serve less densely populated neighborhoods.
In Quebec City, a bridge between Lévis and L’Île-d’Orléans, reserved for electric buses or a light train and completed by the widening of the bridge between the Island and the north shore, would cost much less than the tunnel offers. With a sound absorbing wall and lane closure at night, this solution would protect Island residents from noise and pollution from the flow of cars and trucks.
In these two projects, it is important to properly integrate the new infrastructure into the existing networks by allowing easy and cheap (or free) transfer between the two. Since this is public transit, the federal government would no doubt be happy to help.
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