Métro achalandage et actualités

[ScarletCoral]

Article intéressant dans La Gazette qui résume les différents projets qui ont été proposés pour déengorger le métro

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-solutions-for-montreals-sardine-class-commuters

Analysis: Solutions for Montreal's 'sardine class' commuters

More express bus lanes, a short downtown métro line and education on how to be a good subway rider among the solutions.

RENÉ BRUEMMER, MONTREAL GAZETTE
Updated: May 10, 2019

Montreal’s popular, overburdened métro system has been a victim of its success for nearly a decade. In the coming days, Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration is promising to offer solutions for the “sardine class,” as her party has dubbed cramped commuters.

Among the possible remedies projected are express bus lanes on major north-south routes to alleviate pressure on the métro Orange Line, including a possible rapid-bus transit route on Papineau Ave., Montreal’s longest north-south artery. Some experts express doubts, however, as to whether trying to shift commuters from the crowded but speedy métro system to Montreal’s congested and slow-moving streets will work.

For the first time in its history, more than a million people a day passed through Montreal’s turnstiles on a number of days in 2018. Overall, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) counted 217 million entries into the métro system last year, and ridership continues to grow — in 2018, it was up by 4 per cent.

The Orange Line, which shuttles morning commuters from Laval and southward into the downtown core, reached capacity in 2011 — eight years ago — and since then has continued to surpass it, year over year. Commuters have long complained of having to wait on the platform as two or three packed trains go by before squeezing themselves in.

“Take a metro at 8:15 on the Orange Line and the conclusion is clear,” STM chair Philippe Schnobb said last November. “At a certain point, you’re going to get to the point of saturation.”

Coming public-transit additions like the REM light-rail line to be completed by 2023 and the extension of the métro Blue Line in 2026 are raising fears that overtaxed métro lines could see even more commuters flooding in.

Montreal’s current administration, run by Projet Montréal, is pushing for the addition of a Pink Line to the métro system that would run parallel to the crowded Orange and Green Lines in the downtown core to alleviate pressure. But given that that solution could take years if not decades, particularly since the Coalition avenir Québec government holding the pursestrings has been cool to the idea, shorter-term solutions are needed to ease overcrowding and speed travel times. Failure to act could spur commuters to abandon public transit, increasing road congestion and harming the environment, as has happened in municipalities like Washington, D.C.

Here are some solutions proposed by Montreal’s political parties and urban mobility experts:

Projet Montreal — More buses, more métro trains, and Pink Line studies

Mayor Valérie Plante’s party is forging ahead with its Pink Line aspirations despite the reservations of the Quebec government, putting $1 million toward a project office in its 2019 budget to study the idea.

Because it is promising a “major announcement” in the coming days related to métro overcrowding, the party declined interview requests on this topic. Among the remedies that the party has already suggested:

The city signed a contract to add 300 hybrid buses by 2020, increasing the overall fleet to 2,107 buses. The city hopes they will help to alleviate overcrowding on bus routes. It has also pledged to create more express-bus lines that run on reserved lanes in high-traffic areas as an alternative to the métro.

The city is building a new underground garage to house 10 additional trains on the Orange Line. It will allow the trains to arrive at stations every two minutes, instead of the current two-and-a-half minutes, during rush hour, representing a 25-per-cent increase in capacity. The garage is to be completed in 2021.

The new Azur cars running primarily on the Orange and Green Lines hold eight per cent more passengers than the older models

The REM light-rail system slated to be in full operation by 2023 is expected to take some pressure off the Orange Line, at least in the short term. That will be offset by the extension of the métro Blue Line, however, which will add five stations to the east and bring more commuters transferring to the Orange Line as of 2026.

Trajectoire 2000 — Express bus lines

“As we’ve been saying for quite a while, to build a métro line takes time,” said François Pepin, president of the board of directors of the public transit lobby group Trajectoire Québec. While the group supports Projet Montréal’s Pink Line plan, it stresses that more short-term solutions are needed to solve the problem at hand. They suggest:

• More express bus lanes to downtown: With Montreal ordering 300 new buses, it’s time to create more express bus lanes that can shuttle people quickly from densely populated parts of the island to downtown without using the Orange Line or even the Green Line. Sherbrooke St., Rosemont Blvd. and Beaubien St. are all prime candidates for an express bus lane, at least during rush hours, Pepin said. Similar lanes on segments of Sherbrooke St., and the 427 Express bus that runs along St-Joseph Blvd. from Rosemont and the Plateau to downtown Montreal are examples that show it could work.
• Passengers doing their part: Some passengers have a tendency to stand at crowded spots on the métro platform that will deliver them closest to their exits at their destinations, or to stand close to the doors on the métros as opposed to filling the middle sections of the cars, Pepin noted. Education programs could inform people how to maximize space. 

Coalition Montreal — The Knowledge Line

When he was running for mayor under the Coalition Montreal banner in 2017, Jean Fortier promoted what he called a much cheaper and more practical alternative to Projet Montréal’s Pink Line that he dubbed the Knowledge Line. It would run from the Côte-des-Neiges station of the métro’s Blue Line to Griffintown, with stops at Beaver Lake on Mount Royal and near Concordia University along the way. The southerly extension would allow riders on the under-used Blue Line to get downtown without switching to the Orange Line, alleviating pressure. And it would connect the Université de Montréal with Concordia, thus the Knowledge Line moniker.

Councillor Marvin Rotrand, a former Coalition Montreal member, said the line would cost only a quarter of the Pink Line’s estimated $6 billion and, since it would remain below ground (unlike the Pink Line), it could use the same trains currently driven on the métro, saving money on rolling stock.

“The extension of the Blue Line eastward to Anjou is going to bring a lot more commuters to the Orange Line,” Rotrand said. “Fortier’s proposal merits further study.”

In addition to the Knowledge Line, Rotrand suggests more express bus routes and better use of GPS tracking to control traffic lights so buses receive priority treatment, speeding commutes. The Pie-IX Bus Rapid Transit line, scheduled to be finished in 2022 and to shuttle 70,000 passengers a day, should also take strain off the Orange Line, although “they seem to be setting a world record for how long it’s taking,” Rotrand said.

Pierre Barrieau: “There’s not a lot that can be done”

The fact that the métro system would become overcrowded has been obvious for years, and now the STM is paying the price for not acting sooner, said Pierre Barrieau, a lecturer in urban planning at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Montréal.

Solutions like adding Azur cars that have roughly 8 per cent more capacity were short-lived because the average 3-per-cent increase in ridership meant it was only a few years before they were at capacity. Adding 300 buses to the fleet only increased the overall fleet’s capacity by 12 per cent, and many of those buses will be needed on special routes when much of the Deux-Montagnes train line is closed in 2020 for two years.

The idea of express buses running on north-south routes like St-Denis or St-Urbain Sts. to connect with René-Lévesque Blvd. as an alternative to the Orange Line or to get commuters to the Green Line is hampered by the fact those streets are already highly congested. If alternatives won’t save commuters any time, they won’t use them.

Solution-wise we are sort of in a situation that almost all infrastructure in the city has been so optimized it’s hard to get any extra juice out of it,” Barrieau said. “We are really hitting that wall. There’s not a lot that can be done.”

If the Pie-IX rapid-bus transit route is any indication, thoughts of having a similar line on Papineau Ave. could take until 2025 to be realized.

The Pink Line is a good solution, he said, “but you have to think of it as a concept, not a fixed line,” meaning the idea needs to evolve.

“At least it’s the first time in decades someone has said we need to build another line for Montreal’s inner neighbourhoods. But unfortunately it’s going to be grinding teeth and suffering for now.”

Florence Junca-Adenot: Flexible hours for easier commutes

It is not only métros that are overcrowded, noted Florence Junca-Adenot, a professor with Université du Québec à Montréal’s urban studies and tourism department. It’s buses too. Adding more buses to routes to speed trips and more express bus lines on the north-south and east-west corridors that have the highest traffic will help ease the crowding.

At the same time, the community has a part to play, he said, particularly employers and those offering services. They should be offering more flexible hours for their employees or clients, or the possibility to work from home, at least some of the time.

“The more you stretch out the rush hour, both morning and night, the more you will decrease the congestion in public transit,” she said. “Offering more flexible hours is also a good response to the shortage of labour that employers are suffering right now.”

[Gabmtl]

il y a 52 minutes, ScarletCoral a dit :

Article intéressant dans La Gazette qui résume les différents projets qui ont été proposés pour déengorger le métro

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-solutions-for-montreals-sardine-class-commuters

Analysis: Solutions for Montreal's 'sardine class' commuters

More express bus lanes, a short downtown métro line and education on how to be a good subway rider among the solutions.

RENÉ BRUEMMER, MONTREAL GAZETTE
Updated: May 10, 2019

Montreal’s popular, overburdened métro system has been a victim of its success for nearly a decade. In the coming days, Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration is promising to offer solutions for the “sardine class,” as her party has dubbed cramped commuters.

Among the possible remedies projected are express bus lanes on major north-south routes to alleviate pressure on the métro Orange Line, including a possible rapid-bus transit route on Papineau Ave., Montreal’s longest north-south artery. Some experts express doubts, however, as to whether trying to shift commuters from the crowded but speedy métro system to Montreal’s congested and slow-moving streets will work.

For the first time in its history, more than a million people a day passed through Montreal’s turnstiles on a number of days in 2018. Overall, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) counted 217 million entries into the métro system last year, and ridership continues to grow — in 2018, it was up by 4 per cent.

The Orange Line, which shuttles morning commuters from Laval and southward into the downtown core, reached capacity in 2011 — eight years ago — and since then has continued to surpass it, year over year. Commuters have long complained of having to wait on the platform as two or three packed trains go by before squeezing themselves in.

“Take a metro at 8:15 on the Orange Line and the conclusion is clear,” STM chair Philippe Schnobb said last November. “At a certain point, you’re going to get to the point of saturation.”

Coming public-transit additions like the REM light-rail line to be completed by 2023 and the extension of the métro Blue Line in 2026 are raising fears that overtaxed métro lines could see even more commuters flooding in.

Montreal’s current administration, run by Projet Montréal, is pushing for the addition of a Pink Line to the métro system that would run parallel to the crowded Orange and Green Lines in the downtown core to alleviate pressure. But given that that solution could take years if not decades, particularly since the Coalition avenir Québec government holding the pursestrings has been cool to the idea, shorter-term solutions are needed to ease overcrowding and speed travel times. Failure to act could spur commuters to abandon public transit, increasing road congestion and harming the environment, as has happened in municipalities like Washington, D.C.

Here are some solutions proposed by Montreal’s political parties and urban mobility experts:

Projet Montreal — More buses, more métro trains, and Pink Line studies

Mayor Valérie Plante’s party is forging ahead with its Pink Line aspirations despite the reservations of the Quebec government, putting $1 million toward a project office in its 2019 budget to study the idea.

Because it is promising a “major announcement” in the coming days related to métro overcrowding, the party declined interview requests on this topic. Among the remedies that the party has already suggested:

 The city signed a contract to add 300 hybrid buses by 2020, increasing the overall fleet to 2,107 buses. The city hopes they will help to alleviate overcrowding on bus routes. It has also pledged to create more express-bus lines that run on reserved lanes in high-traffic areas as an alternative to the métro.

The city is building a new underground garage to house 10 additional trains on the Orange Line. It will allow the trains to arrive at stations every two minutes, instead of the current two-and-a-half minutes, during rush hour, representing a 25-per-cent increase in capacity. The garage is to be completed in 2021.

The new Azur cars running primarily on the Orange and Green Lines hold eight per cent more passengers than the older models

The REM light-rail system slated to be in full operation by 2023 is expected to take some pressure off the Orange Line, at least in the short term. That will be offset by the extension of the métro Blue Line, however, which will add five stations to the east and bring more commuters transferring to the Orange Line as of 2026.

Trajectoire 2000 — Express bus lines

“As we’ve been saying for quite a while, to build a métro line takes time,” said François Pepin, president of the board of directors of the public transit lobby group Trajectoire Québec. While the group supports Projet Montréal’s Pink Line plan, it stresses that more short-term solutions are needed to solve the problem at hand. They suggest:

• More express bus lanes to downtown: With Montreal ordering 300 new buses, it’s time to create more express bus lanes that can shuttle people quickly from densely populated parts of the island to downtown without using the Orange Line or even the Green Line. Sherbrooke St., Rosemont Blvd. and Beaubien St. are all prime candidates for an express bus lane, at least during rush hours, Pepin said. Similar lanes on segments of Sherbrooke St., and the 427 Express bus that runs along St-Joseph Blvd. from Rosemont and the Plateau to downtown Montreal are examples that show it could work.
• Passengers doing their part: Some passengers have a tendency to stand at crowded spots on the métro platform that will deliver them closest to their exits at their destinations, or to stand close to the doors on the métros as opposed to filling the middle sections of the cars, Pepin noted. Education programs could inform people how to maximize space. 

Coalition Montreal — The Knowledge Line

When he was running for mayor under the Coalition Montreal banner in 2017, Jean Fortier promoted what he called a much cheaper and more practical alternative to Projet Montréal’s Pink Line that he dubbed the Knowledge Line. It would run from the Côte-des-Neiges station of the métro’s Blue Line to Griffintown, with stops at Beaver Lake on Mount Royal and near Concordia University along the way. The southerly extension would allow riders on the under-used Blue Line to get downtown without switching to the Orange Line, alleviating pressure. And it would connect the Université de Montréal with Concordia, thus the Knowledge Line moniker.

Councillor Marvin Rotrand, a former Coalition Montreal member, said the line would cost only a quarter of the Pink Line’s estimated $6 billion and, since it would remain below ground (unlike the Pink Line), it could use the same trains currently driven on the métro, saving money on rolling stock.

“The extension of the Blue Line eastward to Anjou is going to bring a lot more commuters to the Orange Line,” Rotrand said. “Fortier’s proposal merits further study.”

In addition to the Knowledge Line, Rotrand suggests more express bus routes and better use of GPS tracking to control traffic lights so buses receive priority treatment, speeding commutes. The Pie-IX Bus Rapid Transit line, scheduled to be finished in 2022 and to shuttle 70,000 passengers a day, should also take strain off the Orange Line, although “they seem to be setting a world record for how long it’s taking,” Rotrand said.

Pierre Barrieau: “There’s not a lot that can be done”

The fact that the métro system would become overcrowded has been obvious for years, and now the STM is paying the price for not acting sooner, said Pierre Barrieau, a lecturer in urban planning at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Montréal.

Solutions like adding Azur cars that have roughly 8 per cent more capacity were short-lived because the average 3-per-cent increase in ridership meant it was only a few years before they were at capacity. Adding 300 buses to the fleet only increased the overall fleet’s capacity by 12 per cent, and many of those buses will be needed on special routes when much of the Deux-Montagnes train line is closed in 2020 for two years.

The idea of express buses running on north-south routes like St-Denis or St-Urbain Sts. to connect with René-Lévesque Blvd. as an alternative to the Orange Line or to get commuters to the Green Line is hampered by the fact those streets are already highly congested. If alternatives won’t save commuters any time, they won’t use them.

Solution-wise we are sort of in a situation that almost all infrastructure in the city has been so optimized it’s hard to get any extra juice out of it,” Barrieau said. “We are really hitting that wall. There’s not a lot that can be done.”

If the Pie-IX rapid-bus transit route is any indication, thoughts of having a similar line on Papineau Ave. could take until 2025 to be realized.

The Pink Line is a good solution, he said, “but you have to think of it as a concept, not a fixed line,” meaning the idea needs to evolve.

“At least it’s the first time in decades someone has said we need to build another line for Montreal’s inner neighbourhoods. But unfortunately it’s going to be grinding teeth and suffering for now.”

Florence Junca-Adenot: Flexible hours for easier commutes

It is not only métros that are overcrowded, noted Florence Junca-Adenot, a professor with Université du Québec à Montréal’s urban studies and tourism department. It’s buses too. Adding more buses to routes to speed trips and more express bus lines on the north-south and east-west corridors that have the highest traffic will help ease the crowding.

At the same time, the community has a part to play, he said, particularly employers and those offering services. They should be offering more flexible hours for their employees or clients, or the possibility to work from home, at least some of the time.

“The more you stretch out the rush hour, both morning and night, the more you will decrease the congestion in public transit,” she said. “Offering more flexible hours is also a good response to the shortage of labour that employers are suffering right now.”

Très bon article, merci du partage!

Je retiens surtout ça : "Because it is promising a “major announcement” in the coming days related to métro overcrowding, the party declined interview requests on this topic."

Je gage sur une annonce portant sur une multiplication des voies réservées 24h, style SRB Côte-Vertu / Sauvé.

[danny12345]

1 hour ago, ScarletCoral said:

Coalition Montreal — The Knowledge Line

When he was running for mayor under the Coalition Montreal banner in 2017, Jean Fortier promoted what he called a much cheaper and more practical alternative to Projet Montréal’s Pink Line that he dubbed the Knowledge Line. It would run from the Côte-des-Neiges station of the métro’s Blue Line to Griffintown, with stops at Beaver Lake on Mount Royal and near Concordia University along the way. The southerly extension would allow riders on the under-used Blue Line to get downtown without switching to the Orange Line, alleviating pressure. And it would connect the Université de Montréal with Concordia, thus the Knowledge Line moniker.

La 'knowledge line' me semble tout a fait redondante avec le REM qui va justement relier la ligne bleue (et l'UdeM) avec le centre-ville et les lignes vertes et orange.  

[ScarletCoral]

il y a 46 minutes, Gabmtl a dit :

Très bon article, merci du partage!

Je retiens surtout ça : "Because it is promising a “major announcement” in the coming days related to métro overcrowding, the party declined interview requests on this topic."

Je gage sur une annonce portant sur une multiplication des voies réservées 24h, style SRB Côte-Vertu / Sauvé.

Radio-Canada a parlé d'autobus express sur des axes nord-sud cette semaine.
 

[p_xavier]

16 minutes ago, danny12345 said:

La 'knowledge line' me semble tout a fait redondante avec le REM qui va justement relier la ligne bleue (et l'UdeM) avec le centre-ville et les lignes vertes et orange.  

 

[Gabmtl]

il y a 46 minutes, ScarletCoral a dit :

Radio-Canada a parlé d'autobus express sur des axes nord-sud cette semaine.
 

Ouais. Ça ne m'étonne pas. J'entends des rumeurs ici et là, et certains axes nord-sud seront complètement transformés pour accommoder vélo et autobus. 

[mk.ndrsn]

Citation

Passengers doing their part: Some passengers have a tendency to stand at crowded spots on the métro platform that will deliver them closest to their exits at their destinations, or to stand close to the doors on the métros as opposed to filling the middle sections of the cars, Pepin noted. Education programs could inform people how to maximize space.

Say it again louder for the people in the… front.

[p_xavier]

3 minutes ago, mk.ndrsn said:

Say it again louder for the people in the… front.

Le REM est supposé avoir des détecteurs dans les rames et des indicateurs sur les quais qui diront à la clientèle vers où se diriger pour avoir plus de place. Je n'ai pas vu ça dans un métro à date.

[Megafolie]

il y a 20 minutes, p_xavier a dit :

Le REM est supposé avoir des détecteurs dans les rames et des indicateurs sur les quais qui diront à la clientèle vers où se diriger pour avoir plus de place. Je n'ai pas vu ça dans un métro à date.

Ah oui? Intéressant, est-ce que cette fonctionnalité a été rendue publique quelque part ou est-ce documenté sur le site de Alstom?

[Decel]

Une des faiblesses que je vois est que les barres verticales sont smack-down au milieu des portes. Donc s'il y a beaucoup de gens qui tiennent les barres, ils bloquent les portes par design. Ils devraient êtres plus sur le cote a mon avis.