Roads and transit: we must suffer before things improve
A theme Friday morning is that we must suffer before things improve in transit and commuting. Pie-IX will be a construction site for four years while the fast bus lane is built, and it better be the most beautiful bus lane in the world if it takes that long. At the same time, the construction of the REM means existing trains on the Deux-Montagnes line will face delays of up to 45 minutes – TVA says the replacement buses could take even longer and warns that more people will be giving up on public transit as a result. This is all in addition to the usual weekend warnings about getting around the Turcot site.
However, in about 2025 everything will be done and the whole road and rail system here will be running in blissfully flawless perfection. And if you believe that, I have a lovely new bridge to sell you.
Update: The mayor of Deux-Montagnes is angry and says no one will listen. Nobody ever has listened at the REM. It was handed down whole as a done deal, without discussion or reference to what the city needed or what the public wanted, and this hasn’t changed.
Ephraim 10:35 on 2019-03-01 Permalink
I wish we would just buck up and put in a tram on Pie-IX. They can even give the tram control of the lights, to make it move and keep cars, taxis, etc out of the lane and have public transit MOVE. Add some solar on the top, put in speed doorways, so you can actually enclose it in the winter. All electric, no emissions, no CO2 and can carry more people per hour. If you are going to spend the time, might as well switch to the most cost efficient per passenger system (less drivers, more passengers, more speed.)
ant6n 18:08 on 2019-03-01 Permalink
“there will be no shutdowns, maybe a weekend or two” (CDPQInfra, 2016)
Roman 21:33 on 2019-03-01 Permalink
They should just give all infra projects to Chinese. They know a thing or two about building fast. They can probably build the entire Montreal by 2025 from scratch. But ya, corruption, and no fair playing field means only QC companies can get contracts.
Uatu 11:13 on 2019-03-02 Permalink
An interesting part of this is the wave of early retirements as a result of not wanting to put up with this bullshit. The minister for Montreal was saying that even with the delays, it’s better than sitting in traffic. I dunno about that. Sitting in a heated car listening to your own music and not being shoved into a bus armpit to nose sounds better to me. And I bet you once it’s all done in the next 10 years, the REM will end up losing money to self driving cars.
Patrick 14:32 on 2019-03-02 Permalink
@Roman, Maybe, but the Chinese rail system has a lot of safety problems.