Our journalists Isabelle Porter and Sébastien Tanguay have done useful work by focusing their attention on the plummeting support for the tramway in Quebec. The latest probe, carried out for The sun with a modest sample, increases support to less than one in three citizens. It’s a train called madness that risks derailing this essential project.
The crushing defeat of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in Jean-Talon unleashed the blundering instinct of Prime Minister François Legault. In a moment of thoughtlessness, he mentioned the possibility of resurrecting from among dead and buried projects the construction of a third link between Quebec and Lévis. The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, summed up the dismay shared by many elected officials. “In one year, we will have said one thing, its opposite and its opposite,” he mocked.
The Prime Minister’s exit does nothing to help the cause of the tramway in the hearts of city dwellers in the greater Quebec region, who stand as a bulwark against the essential expansion of sustainable mobility. While Mr. Legault plays antics by mentioning the relaunch of the third link, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, is forced to come to the defense of the project which has already cost $341 million in various studies and preparatory work. There are no other solutions to the tramway, other than inaction and worsening congestion problems, he warned.
The current project took more than ten years to come to fruition. A return to square one would constitute a marked step backwards. The billions promised by Ottawa will go elsewhere. And citizens will be left champing at the bit in congestion, because the trend towards increasing the number of vehicles will not slow down. Widen roads or build new highways? Don’t even think about it! This worn old movie has played enough.
If Quebec is serious in achieving its objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in its desire to densify the territory, it will have to have the courage to transform into a real public policy the whim of the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy of Quebec, Pierre Fitzgibbon. Yes, we must reduce the size of the vehicle fleet in all urban areas of Quebec.
Public transit is a lame duck in Quebec. According to the latest origin-destination survey for the Quebec-Lévis region, already dating from 2017, the modal share of public transport is at 11% during peak periods, compared to 25% currently for Montreal. However, it is stronger in Quebec (14%) compared to the rest of the agglomeration. In fact, all active mobility indicators are more encouraging in Quebec than in its surrounding areas; it is both a question of mentalities and pragmatism due to the poor accessibility to public transport services in the northern and southern suburbs. This is the unstable foundation on which to build the transition, in a region where the car, solo please, reigns over the territory at 61%… Followed by the car with passenger at 12%.
Critics of the tramway rail against its cost. The project, initially estimated at 3.3 billion, is now worth 5.5 billion… At least, since the revised assessment remains optimistic. This is a recurring issue in infrastructure projects. From the euphoria of the first shovelful of earth in the presence of all-smiling elected officials to the payment of the last bill, the shock of reality is sometimes brutal.
Is the risk too great? We cannot answer this question in the narrowness of popular indignation with regard to public spending which pollutes the tramway file. How much will an alternative solution cost if it requires increased highway capacity? How big will be the productivity losses resulting from the status quo and increased congestion?
The tramway has the potential to bring 45 million trips from year 1, or the equivalent of 160 additional metrobuses during the morning rush hour. On the scale of the challenges that await us, this is a modest but necessary step. To those who are concerned about the inalienable right of the tank to move freely, we remind you that the tram will free up space on public roads by allowing a reduction in car travel.
Public transport is not just a matter of environmental assessment and good conscience. Smooth and adequate service is one of the structuring elements of vibrant metropolises around the world, a status to which the National Capital can legitimately aspire if it demonstrates more ambition and vision.
The ball will soon be in the court of the CAQ government, which will soon have to approve the next phases of the project. The consultation promised by François Legault, on the third link, the tramway and what not, appears to be a nice diversion. Let us not be fooled by these cynical maneuvers to kill the tramway.