The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, judges that the first day of partial closure of the Louis-H.-La Fontaine tunnel in Montreal did not go too badly.
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“To date, honestly, it’s not that bad,” exclaimed Mme Guilbault taking stock at the end of the day, on the airwaves of LCN. “This morning, all in all, it was good too.”
“It’s the first day. It is Monday. People telecommute more on Mondays and Fridays. Besides, it’s Halloween. There may be people who are in the preparation of the costumes, who did not want to come back too late to spend Halloween”, however tempered the minister.
- Listen to local journalist Louis-Philippe Messier on QUB radio:
The next few days should make it possible to better estimate the real impact of the closure of half of the tunnel lanes. However, no additional mitigation measures are planned for the moment, even if it means correcting the situation later, said the politician.
At the same time, the Minister was encouraged by the observation that some motorists have chosen to swap their car for public transport.
“I expect more and more people to use public transit. There was nevertheless an increase in ridership in the three transport companies. This is the good news, but there is still a lot of room, and in the incentive parking lots too, ”said Mme Guilbault, alluding to the Société de transport de Montréal, the Réseau de transport de Longueuil and Exo.
The challenge will remain, over the next few days, to encourage even more people to abandon the solo car so that they opt for other solutions, such as carpooling, public transport or free shuttles set up by Exo, continued the minister.