Quebec, city of the car, aims to confuse the skeptics. The capital is in the process of rethinking its mobility with, at its head, an administration convinced that a city that is moving in the right direction is a city that no longer systematically advances by car.
Thursday noon, in front of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris Île-de-France, the mayor of Quebec gave a speech to an audience of business people from France to convince them to come and sow their dreams of American expansion in the fertile lands of the Quebec capital.
On this occasion, Bruno Marchand highlighted the good economic health of his city, where unemployment has reached a low of 1.7%, a symptom of growth that has never wavered in 20 years. He also hammered home a new argument in the captivating discourse of the capital: mobility is changing in Quebec, the era of unchallenged reign of the automobile is coming to an end.
“The first question people ask us when they come to us is: ‘How do you get around?’ From now on, he underlined in the City of Light, the answers will be multiple. The trend is no longer to say: “You take public transit or you take the car, and there is nothing in between.” The modern worker is a worker who sometimes takes the car, sometimes takes the tram, sometimes uses micromobility, sometimes carpooling, sometimes renting a car. Quebec City is getting ready, said the mayor. She has already started her transformation. »
Rebalances the Force on the roads
5,000 kilometers and a few meridians from the palace where Bruno Marchand spoke on Thursday, The duty met the two elected officials who are driving the advent of this new mobility in the capital.
On the executive council, Pierre-Luc Lachance and Maude Mercier Larouche are responsible for transportation issues. The two embody, each in their own way, the new ways of getting around that their team dreams of rooting in the habits of Quebec.
He is one of the utility cyclists who prefer to have both hands on the handlebars than on the steering wheel on a daily basis. She grew up in Sillery, a neighborhood where she now raises her two children, without ever owning a car. The Mercier Larouche travel mostly on RTC buses, the Réseau de transport de la Capitale, whose councilor has held the presidency since the November 2021 election.
Both refute the idea that a war on the car is brewing in town. lover of Star WarsPierre-Luc Lachance prefers to evoke a necessary “rebalancing of the Force” on the roads.
“When we look at population growth, we know that we are reaching the limits of our capacity. Someone who chooses the bicycle or public transport, it frees up space on our network, indicates the right arm of the mayor to the executive council. This balance is also important for motorists who need to take their vehicle. »
Currently, the car remains firmly anchored in the preferences of the population of Quebec. According to the latest Origin-Destination survey published in 2017, nine trips of less than five kilometers out of ten are still made by car in the national capital. Where many would see a challenge, Pierre-Luc Lachance prefers to see “enormous potential”.
“A distance of five kilometers by bicycle is accessible for many people, but the utility bike has always been the shortcoming of our network, admits the one who pilots active mobility in the City. If we manage to take those 90% of people who currently use their car and offer them enough good solutions to make the choice of bicycle, naturally, the utility bicycle will become a more predominant way of getting around. For us, from there, everyone has a gain: in terms of health, the environment, fluidity, it’s a win, win, win for everyone. »
Quebec promises to roll out 120 km of cycle paths to bring its network to 500 km by 2026. Several Vélo-Cité corridors, inspired by Montreal’s REV, will see the light of day by then, including one this summer between the University Laval and Old Quebec.
Parking review
An appetite for abandoning the car
Despite the current primacy of the automobile, the thirst of the people of Quebec for a different type of mobility exists, according to Maude Mercier Larouche. The capital’s Bixi, called àVélo, is arousing enthusiasm in all corners of the city. “If Maude listened to all the requests made by the colleagues of the municipal council, we would have an explosion of ÀVélo this year, laughs Pierre-Luc Lachance. I don’t know a corner of Quebec that doesn’t want the service. »
In its infancy in 2021, this shared electric bicycle service had modest ambitions: barely 100 bicycles distributed between 10 stations. “We came to test the appetite a little, explains Maude Mercier Larouche. Appetite, I can tell you it was gluttonous: people wanted it and asked for more! »
In its second year, the service already provided more than 185,000 trips. A few days before the launch of its third season, it now has 780 bikes and 74 stations. Next year, àVélo must offer 1000 small electric queens scattered in 100 stations: a growth of 1000% in just four years.
“This is where it gets interesting: the more the network grows, the more people try it and see the benefits,” says Maude Mercier Larouche. Given the enthusiasm, the City is considering extending the service to the outskirts over the next few years.
An image to shape
In this new mobility, Quebec does not forget its suburbs. The Flexibus, which has been circulating in the outlying districts of the capital since 2022, offers a minibus service on request, which picks up the user at his door and drops him off in front of his destination for the price of a bus ticket. Since its launch, the system has provided more than 76,000 trips.
“It’s extraordinary because it’s an alternative to the car, explains the councilor from Sillery. There are parents who have told us that we have freed up their evenings, because Flexibus allows them to transport their children to the arena, even late at night, without having to take their car. »
Mobility is the engine of a deeper change that the administration of Bruno Marchand wishes to root in Quebec. During the election campaign, his party promised in particular to develop small shopping streets in each district of the city to instil a local economy on the outskirts. Transportation is one of the cornerstones of this commitment, according to Pierre-Luc Lachance.
“How do we ensure that people frequent these businesses in their neighborhood? It is by offering them simple and safe means of transportation to get there. For us, it all makes sense. Wherever the cycling choice has been well executed, we see that it has brought economic dynamism. »
It is the identity of Quebec as the queen city of the automobile that the vision of the administration in place is scorching. “I grew up in Quebec with the image, in the 1990s, that Quebec was the “old capital”. I think that today, we no longer have that image: we have that of a modern capital, which changes and adapts. »