Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:39 on 2021-06-11 Permalink Reply  

• Uatu 11:33 on 2021-06-11 Permalink

  Yeah that’s great if you live near a train station. I’m going to pay 180$ a month for another bus ride to the train station. A longer commute and higher price for something I didn’t want. Thanks QC.

• Daniel D 12:46 on 2021-06-11 Permalink

  That sounds incredibly frustrating. I’d be interested to see if there’s analysis to compare journey times at various points in Greater Montreal to downtown, both before and after the REM.

• Faiz 00:40 on 2021-06-12 Permalink

  Uatu, my parents spent decades waiting on the 32 bus to take them directly downtown, and I’ve used the 90 bus for years.

  The extra time it will take to transfer at panama is a flash compared to the time you already waste once the bus gets downtown. The traffic is so bad it takes longer to get from nazereth to Bonaventure than it takes to get from Brossard to nazereth.

  And most peoples final destination isn’t near Bonaventure. I spent many years getting to Bonaventure then walking 20 mins to Concordia. In the future the same trip would mean taking a rem to McGill, which cuts the walk down quite a bit.

  The vast majority of South shore residents gain from the change.

• Tim S. 09:16 on 2021-06-12 Permalink

  That could be, Faiz, but don’t discount the major pain of having to change modes. One of the advantages of the direct rush-hour buses (which the 90 isn’t) is that once you’re on, you’re on, and had uninterrupted time to read, nap, whatever. I caught up on a lot of homework/sleep on those buses. That’s gone now. Glancing at the design of the REM, I’m also pretty sure that a much smaller proportion of passengers will get to sit.
  We’ll see how it goes, but if the REM was so clearly superior they probably wouldn’t have needed to do something so blatantly undemocratic as banning existing public organizations from competing.

• Uatu 10:32 on 2021-06-12 Permalink

  I’m venting because I bought a condo in a tod to get rid of the last mile only to get it back and get charged $$ for it. Instead of downtown the traffic jams will be around the 2 train stations in Brossard because of the non compete clause. Every bus between candiac and longeuil and south from st. Jean to the river will head to Panama or dix30 as well as cars parking or doing drop offs. What’s frustrating is that well designed transit is supposed to give commuters options instead of funneling them into 1. Like I said I’m a loser in this proposition. The winners r the REM adjacent condo developments and those that live nearby the stations. Hopefully it won’t be bad, but I’m seriously considering driving since it’ll cost me more for transit than gas+parking. A good transit system shouldn’t drive a lifelong commuter to abandon it, IMHO.

• qatzelok 12:01 on 2021-06-12 Permalink

  The “carrot” that is the REM needs to be complimented with a “stick” like much higher gas prices, restrictions on car use, and more and more “car-free” streets and districts.

  Make driving more expensive and less convenient, and transit (and air quality) will improve.

• Tim S. 13:19 on 2021-06-12 Permalink

  Q, I would have thought that someone as pessimistic as you would realize that we can make both driving and public transit worse at the same time.