Tag: public transit

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Montreal’s long-delayed Blue Line metro extension moves forward

The STM plans to add five metro stops to the blue line. KELSEY LITWIN/THE CONCORDIAN

The Blue Line metro will have five added stops

For three decades, the City of Montreal has discussed the extension of the metro’s Blue Line.

Finally, Quebec’s Junior Transport Minister and Minister for Montreal Chantal Rouleau announced on March 18 that the long-awaited extension is finally set to be completed by 2029.

The extension will include five new metro stations. They will be located along Jean-Talon St. where it intersects with Boulevards Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire, and Langelier, as well as at Bélanger St., on either side of Highway 25, for the terminal station in Anjou.

Courtesy Société de transport de Montréal

This extension aims to facilitate and shorten commute times for residents, workers, and in particular, students. Rouleau explained that this project would allow economic and social development of the eastern neighbourhood.

“The project is optimized to give the opportunity of the whole new neighbourhood at the east of Highway 25 to have access to the metro,” explained Rouleau.

“It gives opportunities to students to go faster to universities. It gives opportunities to enterprises to have more employees coming in [public] transport without their cars,” Rouleau added.

Sarah Bruyère, a first-year interior design student at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), lives in Anjou and is one of the many students who will benefit from an added stop, which will shorten her commute to school.

“I feel like it’s about time, because my mom told me that even before I was born, she hoped there would be a metro going to Anjou by the time I was in university,” said Bruyère.

“It would be so much easier if the metro came to Galerie d’Anjou, because now I have to take two buses to get to Saint-Michel station, and it takes me one hour and 15 minutes to get to school,” Bruyère added.

Unlike UdeM students living in the east, some Concordia students residing in the same area won’t benefit from added stops on the Blue Line. Olivia Integlia, a first-year journalism and political science student, wished the metro extension would connect the blue line to the green line.

“When I heard that they were installing a metro line near the east-end, it was actually great news because the closest one is Cadillac or Viau metro. What kind of surprised me a little bit is that it’s the Blue Line,” explained Integlia.

“I think personally, if I’m thinking about my commute to Concordia, it won’t really affect me.”

The Blue Line metro extension is a step forward in developing the east-end further, as promised in the Déclaration pour revitaliser l’est de Montréal, which was signed in 2018. The declaration is an agreement between the city and the Quebec government to provide funding for land redevelopment by 2024 and to promote sustainable and integrated mobility.

The original cost was $4.5 billion. Rouleau announced that the new budget is between $5.8 and $6.4 due to many factors, one being expropriation (the government’s power to take private property for public use).

“It will be very easy for the residents to have this access. And it will be better for everybody,” said Rouleau.

Photo by Kelsey Litwin

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Opinions

Editorial: Without access to transportation, you’ll be left behind

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

It’s that time of year again—elections are coming. We’re surrounded by empty promises, eager politicians and platforms that try very hard to appeal to specific people. Yet, there’s one facet of a platform that got our attention. Don’t worry, we won’t be telling you who you should vote for in this editorial (but please do vote). Instead, The Concordian felt the Quebec Liberal Party’s promise to make public transit free for seniors and full-time students is quite compelling—and frankly, it’s about time.

The party’s leader, Philippe Couillard, said, “We want the next generation to develop the habit of using public transit and to turn away, by choice, from driving solo,” according to CBC News. He brought up how some families could save about $2,000 per year, and seniors could save up to $600 annually.

In a utopian world, one where everything was good, public transit would be free. We wouldn’t be forced to sell our souls in order to afford a $110 monthly pass. We wouldn’t have to dig deep into our couches and try to find enough change to pay the $3.25 needed to ride the bus for three minutes. Life would be so much simpler, right?

The truth is, we’re living in a time when free public transportation should be seen as a basic human right. We at The Concordian believe public transit should be free for all—even if you aren’t a senior or a full-time student. There are way more benefits to free public transit than there are disadvantages. For one, we would significantly lessen our carbon footprint. If people used less cars and more public transit, the environment would be less exposed to harsh gasses.

The book Free Public Transit: And Why We Don’t Pay To Ride Elevators tackles this issue in a fundamental way. It describes how we should be looking at public transportation like a public good, similar to garbage services. Co-edited by Jason Prince, an urban planner and part-time professor at Concordia, the book emphasizes how free public transit is a vital way to achieve “greenhouse gas targets in industrialized cities within a reasonable timeframe.” According to an interview with Prince by the Montreal Gazette, approximately 60 to 65 per cent of greenhouse gases in the Montreal region come from the transport sector, with 80 per cent of that being from cars.

Our city is comprised of 1.7 million people; one simply has to stand in downtown Montreal to realize how many of us are constantly moving. From one place to another, we are either on our feet, our bikes, in our cars, on busses or riding the metro. We’re hustling and rushing to get to where we need to be and, at this point, we shouldn’t have to pay for that. The same way Prince’s book questions why we don’t pay to ride elevators—just another way of getting to our destination—we shouldn’t be paying to reach our jobs, homes or daily destinations on time.

Those who can’t afford public transit are often left behind. Not only in terms of being ignored at the bus stop by rude bus drivers, but in life. We’re (unfortunately) living in a capitalistic, dog-eat-dog world, where being on time and showing up to opportunities is often essential to doing well in life. Job interviews, classes, auditions—whatever it is you’re trying to do—is only more difficult when you don’t have a way of getting there in the first place. We all know that unequal distribution of wealth leads to unequal opportunities. That same inequality is mirrored in our public transit system—those who can’t afford those steep monthly passes, or even a $3 bus ticket, can’t reach their full potential.

We should all be pushing for a fairer society. Making public transportation free is just the first pit stop on our long journey toward equality.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

 

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Opinions

What exactly am I paying for?

Photo via Flickr
Photo via Flickr

It’s our favourite time of year. The leaves are changing colours, midterms have just ended and winter break is in view. Last but not least, it’s time for the increase of public transit prices for Montreal commuters.

The Société de transport de Montréal recently announced the increase of monthly fees from $75.50 to $77.75. From this perspective, a $2.25 increase isn’t a big deal, but when you consider that this is its 12th time in the past decade that they’ve raised prices, it’s something to question.

Although the prices for regular separate tickets will remain the same, all the other options (which include monthly passes, week-long passes, etc.) will increase. Here is my concern: why should Montreal commuters pay more if we’re essentially getting the same poor service?

Marvin Rotrand, vice-chair of the STM, told CTV that riders can expect more service on some bus routes, hybrid buses, more bus lanes and “more priority signals where buses go through busy intersections.” Rotrand also said that we should expect more “real-time information” that passengers can access on their smartphones and an increase in capacity from 405 million in 2011 to 540 million in 2020.

The thing is, the STM has been promising things with every increase. Has the majority of that happened yet? No. The STM promised that there would be more buses and especially, buses on time, yet I end up waiting for a bus that never shows up or is 15 minutes late. I do understand that certain changes take time, but after a decade, you shouldn’t make promises if you can’t follow through.

Another good example is the Agence métropolitaine de transport, which I’m particularly familiar with. The Deux-Montagnes train line I take to school is the busiest train line of all. That train holds 900 seats, but according to AMT, during rush hour there are usually more than 1,800 people on board.

Every other train line has double-decker trains, and these lines aren’t even close to being as busy as the Deux-Montagnes line. It’s been years that the AMT has promised double-decker trains on this line, and none have arrived.

Customer service spokesperson of the AMT, Marianne Racine-Laberge, confirmed that the Deux-Montagnes line is the only one without double-decker trains. Laberge said that it’s because Deux-Montagnes is the only self-propelled electric train whereas the newly purchased double-decker trains can only be used with the new dual-mode (diesel/electric) locomotives.

So, why did they purchase new trains, knowing that the Deux-Montagnes train line wouldn’t be able to use them?
Similar to the STM, the AMT continually increases its fees. When I first started taking the train, my monthly pass was $77, now, less than 10 years later, I pay $118 monthly for the same exact service.

I’m pretty sure the service I get from the AMT doesn’t deserve $118. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times my train was late or never showed up, and I always stand because there’s never room.

If the STM and the AMT can start living up to their promises, I won’t have a problem with paying my fair share. If problems continue to be neglected and I’m still wondering if my train, metro or bus will ever show up, you better believe I’ll continue to complain.

Categories
Opinions

Public transetiquette

As a person who is vertically challenged, I often find myself in the armpit of society. I mean this literally, not figuratively.

Due to global warming, traffic, economy, and a variety of other reasons, more and more people have been opting to get from point A to point B using Montreal’s public transit system, currently in its 151st year of existence. Although it has been around for a long time, the number of people riding trains and buses in Montreal is greater than ever, according to the Société du Transport de Montréal. Last year, the ridership hit 404.8 million, a 4.2 per cent increase from the year prior.

In the past few months we’ve seen a lot of media attention given to the city’s public transit workers and their customer relations – but what about our own civility? It seems almost every regular public transit user has a story about etiquette.

“One time when I was standing on the bus, there was a guy next to me who was also standing,” said Chana Myschkowski, a third-year therapeutic recreation student at Concordia University. “A lady was getting off the bus, and as she got off, she dropped something on the ground. As she bent down to pick it up, the guy grabbed her butt and then just got off the bus. It was really weird.”

Alexandra Huard Nicholls, who just began her first year of human relations studies at the university, was recently riding a crowded bus when a woman boarded with a stroller. Naturally, she presumed that there was a child inside. Instead, she had to do a double take. “It was a little dog in the stroller. She was blocking the whole aisle of the bus, and everyone was looking at her like, ‘Are you serious? You really bring your dog around in a stroller?’ It was ridiculous.”

Although these specific incidences are isolated events, other riders have shared feelings about the lack of etiquette on public transit.

Not long ago, CBC News posted the results of a poll listing the top 10 public transit etiquette rules where the number one rule was “When a parent with a small child, a pregnant woman, and elderly person, or someone with a physical disability is boarding, give up your seat!” Other notable behaviours that made the list include covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, minimizing conversational obscenities, and not sitting beside someone else if a free seat is available.

The STM has taken notice, too.

“We use public awareness campaigns to remind people that they have to be polite,” said Marianne Rouette, an STM spokesperson.  There are postings in the metro and on buses that remind people of things they can do to make transport a better experience for everyone, such as carrying a backpack in your hands, rather than on your back, which can be dangerous for other passengers, especially when metro cars and buses are full of people.

“We analyze the situation, and then we prioritize,” said Rouette. “We like to keep our awareness campaigns positive.”

This summer I was riding at the back of the 162 bus going down Monkland Avenue when an elderly woman with a walker boarded the bus. She walked halfway through the bus before a boy of no more than eight-years-old got up to offer her his seat. Maybe we should all learn from this kid and have a little bit more awareness when it comes to “public transetiquette.”

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.

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