Boulevard Pie-IX: a streetcar always possible, according to an expert

ZECHARIAH GOUDREAULT/24 HOURS/QMI AGENCY

Zechariah Goudreault

Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 19:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 19:00

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The establishment of a network of streetcars on boulevard Pie-IX is still possible and would represent an alternative more environmentally friendly, fast service by bus, writes an analyst in transportation demand in the City of Montreal to take this matter in hand.

“There are plenty of people who have signed their card to a member of projet Montréal, with the promise of a streetcar, and then we will have a bus [hybrid] diesel,” said Réjean Benoit, who participated in the study by the consortium Genivar-Systra in 2011 on a tram line envisioned by former mayor Gérald Tremblay on the chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges.

The party projet Montréal, had made the creation of a network of trams as its battle horse in the first years that followed its foundation in 2004.

While the work on the development of a bus rapid (BRT) on boulevard Pie-IX will commence this fall, the expert request to the municipal administration of having”front” and find “financial partners” for a line of trams is rather fitted.

The planning and financing of public transport in the greater metropolitan area accrue to the regional Authority of metropolitan transport (ARTM), but the City could play an influential role, explained professor at the University of Montreal and a specialist in urban transport, Jean-Philippe Meloche.

“I don’t think the City could put in place the transport infrastructure, but it could offer to pay a part of the project or put the money on the table to put pressure on the ARTM”, he stressed.

The cabinet of the mayor of Montreal has not commented.

Ecological

The installation of charging stations is not included in the plans of the project, the BRT on Pie-IX, no electric bus will not travel by 2022.

The tram, fully electric, would not produce any pollutant, has noted the expert. The ridership would also be higher, as the trams are comfortable and punctual, in addition to having a similar frequency to that of the metro in the peak hours.

“If we put a streetcar there would be a lot more than 70 000 passengers per day,” said Luc Gagnon, lecturer at the École de technologie supérieure), in reference to the-day traffic expected for the BRT on Pie-IX.

The development of a network of streetcars on boulevard Pie-IX, which would require among others the installation of electric wires and the construction of storage facilities, would however up the price of 65 % compared to the plan of the SRB to reach 660 million $, according to Réjean Benoit.

Too late

ARTM says that it is too late to change the draft of the BRT on Pie-IX, which will open in the fall of 2022.

“This is a project that is rendered at the last step. If one decided to turn to a tramway project, it would be necessary to redo a good part of the studies”, which would take several years, said the spokesman of the ARTM, Fanie St-Pierre.