Montreal City Weblog

Kate 14:15 on 2019-05-23 Permalink Reply  

• Ginger Baker 14:34 on 2019-05-23 Permalink

  Couldn’t $5 Million buy 10-20 new buses that could be run parallel to the eastern branch of the Orange Line?

• ant6n 15:59 on 2019-05-23 Permalink

  More like 7 buses

• Chris 08:12 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  7 buses would be better than this study.

• ant6n 08:25 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  But you also need to consider operating costs etc., so maybe those 5 Mil would mean only 4 buses you can operate over the next 5 years. The question is whether this study could help implement the Pink Line sooner. Maybe it’s a delay tactic more than anything?

• Chris 08:37 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  1 bus would be better than this study. Of course it’s a delay tactic.

• qatzelok 08:41 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  Handlers: “If you take a quick metro ride with the mayor and then publically offer money for some kind of study, transit users will sit quietly for another year while you extend all the highways.”

• ant6n 09:55 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  Normally, you can’t build big infrastructure project without studying it …. unless you’re the CDPQ of course.

• Kate 10:52 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  Granted, ant6n, but doing studies is a classic Quebec hedging move, like all the endless studies on the blue line extension for the last 30 years.

• CE 10:01 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  Didn’t Plante set up an office to study the Pink Line as soon as she became mayor?

• qatzelok 17:54 on 2019-05-24 Permalink

  Also, is it a neutral entity like the ARMT that will be doing this study, or will it be a gang of hand–picked enablers who will shuttle money into well-connected pockets with whatever conclusions they reach?

• Chris 14:48 on 2019-05-25 Permalink

  Aren’t the CAQ free market types? How about a small price increase during peak hours and a small price decrease during off-peak? That could help to reduce the peak by incentivizing some people to change their travel times. NYC does this for example.

• Kate 17:51 on 2019-05-25 Permalink

  Chris, if you’re working 9 to 5, as so many people do, you have to travel at corresponding times, it’s not a choice. I doubt many folks go on a pleasure jaunt on the orange line at 8:15 a.m. on a weekday.

• Chris 10:22 on 2019-05-26 Permalink

  Kate, true enough. But surely you’re not saying that having peak/off-peak pricing can’t help because not everyone could adjust? Many people also have flexible schedules, and some could choose to travel sooner/later with an incentive.

  If they won’t increase supply (of metro availability) and demand (for metro use) keeps increasing, then adjusting price could help. And it’s the kind of free market thing you’d think the CAQ could get behind. Instead, they seem to prefer to let the problem fester.

• Marc 10:07 on 2019-05-27 Permalink

  I have a flexible schedule and the overcrowded system is enough incentive to ride at off-peak times, there’s no need for a fare discount.

• Marc 10:29 on 2019-05-27 Permalink

  But of course that’s just my experience, I haven’t done a study like they probably did in NYC that proves it works. I know on the South Shore one of the boroughs offers free transit to seniors during off-peak hours, presumably based on evidence that it reduces the number of sardines at rush hour.

• Kate 09:07 on 2019-05-30 Permalink

  Marc, the main reason a senior would be on the metro at sardine time is because they’ve been given a medical appointment at that hour, or some other pressing reason. If someone is travelling to do some shopping, make a visit, etc., they’re unlikely to choose rush hour voluntarily already.