The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) park-and-ride lots are overflowing, to the point where daily users can no longer even find a space. CDPQ Infra acknowledges “high traffic” since the start of the school year, promising that solutions are coming.
Michèle Caron is one of the commuters who uses the REM on a regular basis to get to Montreal, from the Brossard station. The student first takes her car to go to the park-and-ride lot, which has nearly 3,000 spaces, of which more than 2,000 are free and about 850 are paid.
So far, so good, except that in reality, it’s much more complicated. “Now, it’s practically impossible to find free parking at the Brossard REM station after 8 a.m.,” says Mr.me Caron.
You then have to turn to paid parking, which generally costs around ten dollars per day. “First of all, I find it ridiculous to pay $10 per day for parking when I already pay for my REM and metro pass. […] “We are held hostage because we have to park. Not to mention the piles of snow that are put on the free spaces in the winter,” says the young woman.
His case is not unique. In fact, even for users who pay a monthly subscription of about $120 for parking, there is not always space. “I go around in circles every time I file a complaint and I am never able to speak to someone in charge. I am not reimbursed for anything and I have to take my car to go downtown,” one of them recently lamented on social media.
Yet solutions exist, says M.me Caron: “First, it would be good to abolish paid parking. We would then recover about 900 spaces. It might also be interesting to think about reopening the Chevrier parking lot and operating a shuttle service between the park-and-ride lot and a REM station,” she muses. The latter offered more than 2,000 spaces before its closure.
A redesign that hurts
The low number of parking spaces is not a surprise. The REM project provided few to encourage users to take the bus to the light rail.
But the South Shore Public Transit Association (ATCRS) believes that the reorganization of local bus networks is not meeting demand. The Longueuil Transport Network (RTL) has redirected several routes to the REM since last year, as have exo and the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), but the service is not enough, believes Axel Fournier, spokesperson for the ATCRS.
“The heart of the problem, however, is that this overhaul has cut service hours for many people. Even today, there are many residents who do not have good enough, reliable and frequent service, so they take their car to go to the REM,” says Mr. Fournier.
He calls on decision-makers to “plan for more connections to the bus.” “We would need an increase in service on existing lines, and if not, we could use other incentive parking lots by improving the services around them. I’m thinking of Candiac, Chambly, La Prairie, which all have large existing parking lots.”
One thing remains certain, however: “The solution is not to have even larger areas of asphalt around the REM,” says Axel Fournier. “We want more densification, not less. The solution really is the bus,” he insists.
In search of solutions
Asked about this, CDPQ Infra, which manages the light rail, said it had noticed “a high level of traffic” in all the park-and-ride lots at the South Shore stations in recent weeks.
“Access to REM stations remains a priority and we are always looking for ways to improve the user experience,” says its assistant director of media relations, Francis Labbé.
“We are analyzing a set of solutions to provide better access to the stations. We remind users that they can take the REM by going there by bus, by active transportation, either on foot or by bike, and by car. At this time, a set of improvements is being considered, but the final decisions have not been made,” persisted Mr. Labbé, without going further.
For her part, Michèle Caron can no longer wait and has filed a formal complaint with the CDPQ Infra teams in recent days.
“The vision for the parking offer on the REM network is first and foremost to promote access to stations by public and active transportation. […] “In the short term, there are no plans to increase the number of places, but we remain attentive to the needs of our customers,” he was told.