montréal REM (ligne A) - Discussion générale

[Chuck-A]

Enfin, un peu d'optimisme exprimé haut et fort de la part d'une navetteuse ("commuters") du West-Island... 😃

Korf: What's the REM going to cost commuters?

Although questions remain, the new REM light-rail network will hopefully be a blessing for West Island commuters once it opens, says Suzanne Korf.

SUZANNE KORF, SPECIAL TO THE MONTREAL GAZETTE

Updated: July 24, 2019

The future Réseau électrique métropolitain electric train is to connect downtown Montreal and the South Shore, the West Island, Trudeau airport and Deux Montagnes. CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC

How much will it cost per ride on the future REM light-rail network? How often will it run? Will there be enough parking? When will it be ready? So many questions!

I attended an information session in April and the room was packed to the rafters, so I am probably not the only one who doesn’t know all there is to know about the REM.

Or perhaps, judging from the lineup of people who queued up at the mics after the presentation, they came to be heard.

A few of the comments were, well, interesting. One gentleman complained that the new stations were not closer to his child’s daycare. A woman was upset about snakes that had perished during the excavation. Many people complained about the lack of parking, access to the airport and the number of trees that have been cut down.

Truth be told, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the project. What do planners in their downtown offices know about commuting in the West Island?

Work crews lift one of several 42 ton prefab sections that will make up a REM rail bridge. ALLEN MCINNIS /MONTREAL GAZETTE

But despite myself, I must admit I was impressed. The plan includes environmental initiatives such as replanting 110 per cent of trees cut down during construction. There are provisions to limit and offset the impact on wetlands, fauna and flora — even passages for wildlife so their crossings will not be disturbed.

It will create a ton of new jobs, both during construction and after.

Pricing will be decided by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain and fares will be comparable to existing prices.

The six West Island stations (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Kirkland, Pointe-Claire, Des Sources, Roxboro-Pierrefonds and Sunnybrooke) will be universally accessible and inside enclosed buildings — no more waiting on the platform in ice and rain. Screened doors will prevent accidents.

There will be Wi-Fi, heated floors and air conditioning. The fully automated trains will run 20 hours/day, seven days/week with departures every 10 minutes during peak periods and every 15 minutes at other times.

It’s not perfect, of course. Parking is an issue. Planners are hoping people will bus, bike or carpool to stations, showing a lack of understanding about travel in the West Island.

Access to the airport is another issue. West Islanders will have to travel to the Bois Franc station and switch lines to get to Trudeau airport in Dorval. Currently there is no plan to extend the REM an additional 700 metres to connect it to the existing Vaudreuil-Dorion line or Via Rail in Dorval along Highway 20.

Hopefully these issues get resolved before construction is completed in 2023.

Right now, the thought of construction, traffic and parking makes me reluctant to go downtown on the weekend to enjoy the jazz festival or catch a show.

In a few short years, I can go downtown on the weekend or stay after work for a Habs game or dinner and not worry about parking and traffic or how to get back home quickly after rush hour.

In the meantime, I am enjoying watching the prefabricated pieces of our new light rail system being installed with speed and precision and looking forward to the day I can ride our futuristic new transit system.

 — Suzanne Korf, a Pointe-Claire resident, is a professional fundraiser who has worked for non-profit organizations for more than 25 years. She is a senior director of development for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

[mk.ndrsn]

Quote

Access to the airport is another issue. West Islanders will have to travel to the Bois Franc station and switch lines to get to Trudeau airport in Dorval. Currently there is no plan to extend the REM an additional 700 metres to connect it to the existing Vaudreuil-Dorion line or Via Rail in Dorval along Highway 20.

Quote

Parking is an issue. Planners are hoping people will bus, bike or carpool to stations, showing a lack of understanding about travel in the West Island.

I think the Dorval extension is a good idea, but talking about this omission like it's a super major inconvenience for commuters or a significant missed opportunity is disingenuous. It's not like it's on the same level like say, not building the E-M or Mcgill stations would have been, chill Korf. Also, the parking shortage discourse is kind of stale at this point; folks should just wait for the new bus system map and schedules and then complain.

[jp_mtl]

Il y a 4 heures, Chuck-A a dit :

Access to the airport is another issue. West Islanders will have to travel to the Bois Franc station and switch lines to get to Trudeau airport in Dorval.

Ils pourraient faire une station sur la rue Douglas B Floreani.

[Chuck-A]

il y a 22 minutes, jp_mtl a dit :

Ils pourraient faire une station sur la rue Douglas B Floreani.

CDPQ Infra a (malheureusement) supprimé la station qui était prévue dans le secteur (feue station A13) en février 2018, car il y aurait eu un trop petit achalandage (i.e. moins de 1000 personnes). 

Citation

Saint-Laurent ne comptera que cinq stations du futur train électrique qui s’appelle dorénavant Réseau express métropolitain (REM). Alors que la construction devrait se mettre en branle en avril, la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) Infra a décidé de supprimer la station prévue en bordure de l’autoroute 13, près du parc-nature du Bois-de-Liesse.

Le faible achalandage, anticipé à moins de 1 000 clients par jour, ainsi que le rapport bénéfices-coûts peu avantageux ont été invoqués par CDPQ Infra pour expliquer sa décision. De plus, l’enclavement du secteur, avec les axes routiers voisins déjà fortement congestionnés, aurait rendu la station difficile d’accès.

«S’il y a une gare qui n’était pas stratégique pour Saint-Laurent, c’était bien celle de l’A-13, souligne le maire de l’arrondissement, Alan DeSousa. Elle avait été conçue pour les Lavallois.»

https://journalmetro.com/actualites-saint-laurent/1392913/rem-cdpq-saint-laurent-trace-revu-station-a-13/

D'ailleurs, connaît-on le nombre de voyageurs quotidiens de l'Ouest-de-l'Île ayant comme lieu d'origine ou de destination l'aéroport ?  Je doute que ce nombre ne soit supérieur à quelques centaines de passagers.  

En plus, on sait fort bien, qu'à long terme, la station Bois-Franc serait une station INCONTOURNABLE, par son intermodalité en raison du potentiel prolongement de la ligne Orange du métro.

[danny12345]

Pour ceux que ça intéresse, le 'canadian rail atlas' est à jour avec le tracé exact du REM.  

Par exemple le franchissement du canal Lachine et des voies du CN

https://rac.jmaponline.net/canadianrailatlas/

[felixinx]

Il y a 3 heures, danny12345 a dit :

Pour ceux que ça intéresse, le 'canadian rail atlas' est à jour avec le tracé exact du REM.  

Par exemple le franchissement du canal Lachine et des voies du CN

https://rac.jmaponline.net/canadianrailatlas/

Les voies du REM ne sont pas sur le Canadian Rail Atlas. C'est plutôt des contributions de la communauté d'Open Street Map, alors approximatif.

https://osm.org/go/cIrPBjuUd--

[danny12345]

2 hours ago, felixinx said:

Les voies du REM ne sont pas sur le Canadian Rail Atlas. C'est plutôt des contributions de la communauté d'Open Street Map, alors approximatif.

https://osm.org/go/cIrPBjuUd--

ha d'accord, donc ça fait partie de la map de base et non des données de canadian rail atlas.  Ça explique pourquoi les filtres ne permettaient pas de contrôler leur affichage.  merci pour l'info

[SKYMTL]

Quote

It’s not perfect, of course. Parking is an issue. Planners are hoping people will bus, bike or carpool to stations, showing a lack of understanding about travel in the West Island.

This is 110% true.  There's a fundamental lack of understanding or at the very least a huge amount of denial about how absolutely atrocious public transport is in the West Island. 

Multi level paid access parking garages should be included in the plan for all the stops west of Sources.   

[begratto]

il y a 20 minutes, SKYMTL a dit :

This is 110% true.  There's a fundamental lack of understanding or at the very least a huge amount of denial about how absolutely atrocious public transport is in the West Island. 

Multi level paid access parking garages should be included in the plan for all the stops west of Sources.   

300 nouveaux bus arrivent et la STM a annoncé que le service serait réorganisé et plus fréquent dans l'ouest-de-l'île.  On peut présumer que ce sera beaucoup plus facile d'accéder aux stations en bus qu'actuellement. 

[amaist]

33 minutes ago, SKYMTL said:

This is 110% true.  There's a fundamental lack of understanding or at the very least a huge amount of denial about how absolutely atrocious public transport is in the West Island. 

Multi level paid access parking garages should be included in the plan for all the stops west of Sources.   

Improving public transport in WI to make it easier to get to REM stations is relatively simple. Much easier than trying improve bus service to downtown or the closest metro stations. When each bus route takes 1/2 or even 1/3 of the time compared to going downtown you get instant doubling of bus availability without getting any new buses. Add some more buses and routes and it could work. Current system is quite underutilized outside rush hours. It's a chicken and egg problem. People don't want to take the bus because it is so infrequent and unreliable. The transportation authority doesn't want to add more capacity because the current one is underused. It takes resources and political will to break that cycle.

The REM project has much further reaching goals than pure passenger capacity/transit speed increase. The planning around stations is meant to encourage long term densification. Some might call it "social engineering".

As for paid multi level garages, I think the local municipalities may have the power to authorize private companies to build and operate those. I don't remember specific numbers but I saw some studies before that show that building multi-level parking is quite expensive and the cost to park there won't be negligible. $10 a day would be the ballpark figure which for many people in WI would be quite shocking.

I agree that it is a bit shocking to WI residents that they don't get what they want and they think they "need". It would be shocking to me, too. But to move forward in life you need a shake-up once in a while. Staying too comfortable for too long is a recipe for stagnation. There is pretty good consensus now that urban sprawl is a blight on our planet. Changing that is not going to be 100% comfortable. I don't believe in destroying all that currently exists to make things better. But when doing projects that have 50-60 year time horizons we must think about where it's going to go while making it useful immediately at the start.

Modifié 26 juillet 2019 par amaist