Citizen groups and urban planning experts are calling for extensive reflection on public transit needs in the greater Montreal area before the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) project is relaunched in the east of the island. They fear that the group of experts led by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) is content with a version of the REM that is “less indigestible” than the first version.
In a letter addressed to To have tofour civil society groups and four mobility experts are calling on officials to avoid the mistakes they say were made by the promoters of the initial project, which was shelved last May.
This multi-billion dollar electric train between downtown and eastern Montreal was offered by CDPQ Infra, a subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec. The project was rejected for a series of reasons: the tall structures would have created a scar in the landscape (as can be seen with the REM de l’Ouest under construction), and the route largely ran along the green line metro, which would have “cannibalized” the service already offered by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).
“If we want the project to be well managed, we have to get out of the dead end in which CDPQ Infra has gotten us involved,” says the To have to Gérard Beaudet, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal.
For him, the subsidiary of the Caisse de depot was first looking to develop a “business model” exportable abroad for the development of automated trains.
“That’s not how we do public transit,” says Gérard Beaudet. He and the other signatories of the letter to To have to believe that before choosing a route and a mode of transport, it is necessary to go back to basics and assess the current and future needs for public transport in the greater Montreal area — which, according to them, has not been done.
A working group made up of representatives of the ARTM, the STM, the City of Montreal and the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility was tasked last May with reassessing the REM de l’Est project. “Six months later, the public learned that a process for issuing contracts for the planning of the structuring public transit project for the east end of Montreal had been launched. This raises legitimate concerns for anyone with an interest in this file”, indicate the signatories of the letter sent to the To have to.
A first contract awarded by Quebec will update a variant of the REM de l’Est project which could extend to Rivière-des-Prairies, Laval or Lanaudière while eliminating the section between Dickson Street and the city center, notes the letter. At the same time, two calls for tenders were launched by the ARTM with a view to setting up teams of professionals to carry out feasibility studies.
Driverless train
The signatories oppose the driverless automated train, which is still being considered even if it “considerably mortgages the areas crossed”.
“An automated train, whether overhead or underground, will be less universally accessible, will have far fewer stations, and will offer very little flexibility in its future development compared to ground-based modes such as light surface rail, tram or the tram-train”, specifies the letter, signed by four citizen groups and supported by Gérard Beaudet, Florence Junca-Adenot, associate professor in urban studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal, François Pépin, expert in transport planning, and Michel Lincourt, architect and urban planner emeritus.
These call into question the “obsession” of the authorities for an additional link between the east of the island and the city center. “We know that in all urban areas, it is mobility between the suburbs that is growing. This dimension is completely hidden [dans le projet actuel de REM de l’Est] “laments Gérard Beaudet.
Disruptions due to work in the Louis-Hippolyte-TunnelFountain demonstrate the undeniable need for mobility between the east of the island and the South Shore, he underlines. The crowd on the toll bridge of Highway 25 shows the same need between the island and the northern suburbs, according to him.
The authorities responsible for transport must also take into account the mobility needs within the suburbs themselves, argues Gérard Beaudet. People in the east end of Montreal, Laval and the South Shore complain of having to take their car for their shortest trips in their neighborhood because of the lack of public transport.
For an “in-depth analysis”
For these reasons, the signatories of the letter are calling for a “global vision” of the transportation needs of the greater Montreal region. And a consultation, “out of respect for the residents”, underlines Daniel Chartier, vice-president of the Collectif en environnement Mercier-Est.
“The ARTM was reassuring about its desire to develop a consensual project. However, until now, no information has filtered out to know if the other modes of transport such as the tramway, the metro, the electric bus or the tram-train will be evaluated at their fair measure. It is impossible to know if the planned routes are part of a global vision of public transport and support the sustainable development of the territory of eastern Montreal,” write the signatories.
These experts consider it “essential that the ARTM be able to analyze in depth a wide variety of modes and routes rather than being forced to make CDPQ Infra’s REM less indigestible”.
At the time these lines were written, the ARTM had not officially reacted to information from the To have to. In private, a source familiar with the matter recalls that the mandate given to the ARTM by the Legault government and the City of Montreal is clear: the committee is responsible for updating the Eastern REM project; to better integrate the project in Mercier-Est; align the train project with the metro lines; and to study a potential extension to Rivière-des-Prairies, Laval or Lanaudière.
The other signatories of the open letter are Arnaud G. Veydarier, president of Imagine Lachine-Est, Catherine Houbart, director of the Group of recommendations and actions for a better environment, and Jean-François Boisvert, president of the Coalition climat Montréal .