The City of Montreal is moving forward with the extension of the Service Rapide par Bus (SRB) Pie-IX between the Pie-IX metro station and rue Notre-Dame, although the project costs are almost twice as high provided that.
This was confirmed Thursday morning by Mayor Valérie Plante, during a speech at the Rendez-vous Communities viable 2023.
“The City of Montreal has chosen to invest a sum of $136.8 million to extend the service because we know that it is necessary,” mentioned the elected official.
Quebec had budgeted $78 million for the extension between avenue Pierre-De Coubertin and rue Notre-Dame Est.
The costs could double since the contract provides for the bill to reach $167 million.
An expensive postponement
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) had however put the project on hold last fall, when the price was lower.
The two bids that had been received, however, were for $135 million and $181 million, which was deemed too expensive.
The Montreal transport service had therefore decided to relaunch a new call for tenders last January in order to find a contractor who would remain within the limits of the budget.
This will ultimately not be the case, since the contract awarded to construction giant Pomerleau exceeds the cost of one of the bids.
For Ms. Plante, the SRB Pie-IX comes “to give a boost to unblock sectors that are already very isolated”.
“It is one of the most important axes to manage the beginning of the east of Montreal”, she underlined.
For her part, the opposition critic for active transportation said she was “very worried” about this new expense.
“It’s because of this mismanagement by the administration that Montrealers will have to pay a bill that will be more expensive, and that’s not counting the delays that it will cause in terms of the work,” mentioned Alba Zuniga Ramos.
The STM expects the extension work to be completed in the summer of 2027 and commissioning to take place in the following months.
The first passengers of the SRB Pie-IX boarded last November, almost nine years late and a bill of around $500 million.