Thousands of people who came to observe the eclipse on Sainte-Hélène Island got stuck in a traffic jam on Monday afternoon at the Jean-Drapeau station. While some waited for the metro for more than an hour after the event, others began to walk home.
There were dozens of them marching along the Jacques-Cartier Bridge at the end of the afternoon.
Lyne Labrie is among the pedestrians who first tried to take the metro after the eclipse. “But it was all congested, it was coming in at a snail’s pace,” says the woman who came to attend the Eclipse of the Century event, at Jean-Drapeau Park.
As for Olivier Renaud and Catherine Blais, they finished crossing the bridge at 6 p.m., an hour and a half after the end of the eclipse. With three young children at their side, “it was something,” sighs Catherine Blais.
After waiting for the metro for almost an hour, the young family set out to return on foot. “We had to wait a good 45 minutes to board the bridge […] It was hell, for real,” says Olivier Renaud.
While pedestrians were streaming off the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, a line of cyclists formed, waiting for the green light to cross. Hugo Pelletier, who was leaving work by bike, had been waiting for around twenty minutes. “Morale is good, but we shouldn’t wait another half hour,” said the cyclist.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Hugo Pelletier had been waiting to cross the Jacques-Cartier Bridge for 20 minutes.
Passage through Longueuil
To leave the park, some walked to Longueuil to take the metro to Berri-UQAM. This is the case of Myriam Devost and her friends, who arrived in Montreal no less than two and a half hours after their departure from Parc Jean-Drapeau. “It was really too long,” observed the young woman.
Same scenario for Lisa Jones and Isabelle Jay, who came from New York to see the eclipse. After the event, “a mass of people were trying to board the bridge to the north, but it wasn’t even moving,” explained the New Yorker, who then chose to go in the other direction.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Pedestrian traffic jam at the exit of Parc Jean-Drapeau
Reasonable delay
Such delays are not abnormal during an event period, according to the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).
During major events, the STM adjusts the service in order to accommodate approximately 20,000 people per hour, which “allows spectators to leave the sites in more or less 2 hours,” underlined Kevin Bilodeau, corporate advisor at the STM, in an email to The Press.
In anticipation of the eclipse, the Société de transport de Montréal implemented a protocol that included the addition of trains on the yellow and orange lines as well as a shuttle service. “The addition of trains on the yellow line ensured that it was running at full capacity,” explained Kevin Bilodeau. The STM had also set up a shuttle service for users who wanted to leave Sainte-Hélène Island by land.