Open letter addressed to the elected officials of the City of Quebec, the National Assembly and the House of Commons,
Between 1981 and 2009, over this period of 28 years, we sat, at one time or another, on the council of the City of Quebec. Today we believe that the time has come to increase the modal share of public transport, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And we acknowledge the limitations of the bus as a public transport system.
In anticipation of significant demographic growth in its metropolitan area, Quebec City is at a crossroads. Structured on the solid basis of studies spread over 20 years, the tramway project undeniably responds to a need.
Giving up the tramway means continuing to rely, at great expense of public funds, on road transport which, in Quebec, represents the largest source of GHGs, i.e. 34% of total emissions.
In our eyes, resistance to the tram project is partly explained by resistance to change in the population’s travel habits. Indeed, Quebec holds the sad record for the urban area with the greatest number of kilometers of highway per inhabitant in Canada. It is not surprising that the latest origin-destination survey in the Quebec-Lévis region, dating from 2017, reveals that 63.9% of trips in the urban area are made by solo car. With a vehicle that sleeps in a parking lot at work and at home most of the time. Solo driving is an unsustainable travel model in the long term, particularly in terms of public finances. That said, the targeted increase in public transport modal shares will allow smoother movement for drivers who do not have the choice of traveling by car.
A legitimacy already acquired
The tramway was supported by the majority of municipal elected officials in Quebec during the vote on November 7, 2021. It was also part of the commitments made by the four political parties represented in the National Assembly. It is viewed favorably by the federal government, which has programs to support public transportation infrastructure. This innovative tramway project therefore has all the necessary legitimacy as a major infrastructure dedicated to the fight against climate change and benefiting from funds from the governments of Quebec and Canada.
This democratic basis for the project is nevertheless contested by some taxpayers, who cite in particular the anticipated increase in construction costs which will soon be the subject of an update by the City’s project office. However, cost increases are the norm rather than the exception for such works. The duty recently published that average cost overruns for megaprojects are between 200% and 300%, according to the work of Bent Flyvbjerg, world authority in the field and professor at the University of Oxford.
The example of the metrobus
We are not surprised that part of public opinion is showing reluctance, or even opposition, to the tram project. We witnessed such a reaction to the new, the unknown during the preliminary phases of the metrobus and the Saint-Roch garden (now the Jean-Paul-L’Allier garden). Shortly after the ribbon cutting, these two innovations were adopted by the population and going back is now unimaginable. In our twin city of Bordeaux, the preliminary phases of the commissioning of the tramway have fueled opposition for various reasons. Once the tramway was installed on its tracks, the population was gradually able to appreciate its advantages. Ultimately, they overcame technical apprehensions, fears about the diversion of through traffic onto residential streets and the anticipated repercussions on the urban landscape. The people of Bordeaux have even developed an appetite for new routes.
It is often said that politics is the art of the possible. In the case of large public infrastructures, policy must also make what is necessary possible. In the name of the common good.
* Other signatories: former municipal councilors Ann Bourget, Yvon Bussières, Claude Cantin, Lynda Cloutier, Jacques Jobin, Claude Larose, Marie Leclerc, Réjean Lemoine, Alain Loubier, Pierre Mainguy, Lyse Poirier, Francine Roberge and Odile Roy.