Like many other cities, Saint-Sauveur has been experiencing an increase in its population for some time, and therefore its congestion. The city would like to improve public transportation in addition to widening a road, but subsidies are slow to come. The problem: Quebec is in the dark about real needs outside of major centres, a situation that could soon change.
What you need to know
- An origin-destination (OD) survey is about to be launched nationally, a first in Quebec.
- The exercise allows us to better document the travel habits of Quebecers.
- According to many, this gives hope for more adequate funding of infrastructure projects, both on roads and in public transport.
“Now, here, the roads get blocked very early on the weekends. We know that there are a lot of people who choose other destinations because of that. We understand them, but it’s hurting our development,” laments Jacques Gariépy, mayor of Saint-Sauveur, in an interview with The Press.
Even today, providing public transport or roads outside major centres is often impossible for some municipalities, since they have little data on the travel habits of their population.
In an attempt to clear up this fog, Quebec will conduct a vast survey this fall of thousands of Quebecers living outside major centers.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jacques Gariépy, mayor of Saint-Sauveur, in December 2020
This is a first since Quebec has been conducting its “origin-destination (OD) surveys”, vast surveys carried out every five years since 1977 in major centres, including Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières and Outaouais.
The exercise helps to monitor trends in the population’s travel habits, in order to then develop development policies.
In short, the arrival of these surveys outside of major cities could change the situation almost everywhere. In Saint-Sauveur, Mayor Jacques Gariépy has been trying for years to advance mobility projects, but regularly comes up against several obstacles.
“Our taxi-bus service could play a very important role in the future, especially in the east-west corridor, which is less well served. Between Saint-Jérôme and Sainte-Adèle, it will also take a third lane,” adds the elected official. “The problem is that everything remains conditional on funding. And the grant rebates take far too long to arrive,” explains Mr. Gariépy.
“We are already starting to be saturated in terms of housing availability, but if the taxi-bus becomes more and more adapted to our needs, residences could be built all around. That would make a difference,” he adds.
More possibilities
The government also hopes to change the situation. “We want to shed new light on our knowledge. Even the smallest communities experience mobility challenges, but without factual data to rely on, it is difficult to develop policies, make decisions, or model transportation systems,” explains Jeanne Séguin-Laflamme, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD).
“Cities like Drummondville or Victoriaville, for example, are urban centres that have important issues for which we must seek information,” she adds.
In total, 25,000 Quebec households will be randomly surveyed until mid-December. They will receive a postal letter inviting them to complete a web questionnaire documenting their travel habits, designed by the team of Professor Catherine Morency, holder of the Mobility Chair at Polytechnique Montréal. The results will not be known until 2026, but the whole process will be repeated on an annual basis.
According to Mme Morency, the “data void” plays a big role in several cities. “In Rivière-du-Loup or Rimouski, they have transport management projects, they are trying to implement solutions, but the lack of information works against them a bit,” says Mme Morency.
We all have prejudices or intuitions about people’s habits, about their movements, but nothing to quantify them. It’s something that we’ve never really documented.
Catherine Morency, from the Mobility Chair at Polytechnique Montréal
University of Montreal transportation planning expert Pierre Barrieau seconds Mme Morency. “I’ve been hoping for years to see this kind of survey on a national scale. There are all kinds of intercity travel that we don’t take into account in our public policies. And to design our next sustainable mobility policy (SMP), it’s going to be crucial to have them,” he says.
“In Gaspésie, there are plenty of regional public transit systems emerging, but we can’t measure the investments needed. This survey will be a very good first step,” continued Mr. Barrieau. “I think we’re going to have some surprises.” […] There are people who live very far from Montreal, but who nevertheless travel back and forth every day,” he says.
Montreal and Quebec City already had their most recent origin-destination survey last year, but on a regional level. The results should also be published soon. Gatineau also had it in 2022, while Trois-Rivières, Bécancour and Sherbrooke will have theirs this year as well, still from a more local perspective, and not national.