Traffic chokes Old Montreal
With tourism back, La Presse has a timely piece on the traffic congestion in Old Montreal. But Vincent Larin blames the parking payment system in the Old Port here rather than the idiocy of allowing motor traffic in the Vieux.
Why would a French tourist family drive to Old Montreal? Wherever they were staying, they could’ve avoided their traffic woes simply by taking the metro to Place d’Armes or Champ de Mars. Would they expect to drive around central Paris?
Blork 10:12 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
I’ve been to Old Montreal a few times this summer and yes, the traffic and parking situation is insane. I’ve never seen it so bad. (The worst of it is really in the Vieux Port.)
Regarding why would a French family of tourists drive instead of taking the Metro, I can think of many reasons. For one thing, they probably had no advance warning of the traffic situation. Why would they? They’ve probably driven around other neighbourhoods without encountering that kind of mess, so where would they get the knowledge that the Vieux Port is experiencing a particularly bad traffic situation right now? It’s not like it’s widely reported or is written up in the tourist brochures and guides. (Outside of tourist season, and even within tourist season but on certain days or times of day the traffic isn’t bad.)
Then there’s the Metro. Let’s say you’re a family of four from outside of the country and you’re visiting Montreal (and probably elsewhere) nicely ensconced in your hotel and with a rental car. Each day you head out and visit a bunch of locations, driving from one to the other. And let’s say you did manage to get a warning about traffic in the Vieux Port. What do you do? Find a Metro station that has parking nearby, then go into the Metro and try to figure out the ticket system. Good luck with that! Even if you figure it out, are you ready to shell out $28 just to take the Metro a few stops to avoid parking? (The joke of course is that parking in the Vieux would cost the same, but they probably assumed they’d get metered parking for a couple of hours and pay only a few bucks.) Regardless, their options are (a) pay for parking at the Metro station then pay $28 for the Metro, or (b) just drive to the Vieux and pay for parking.
…also bear in mind the for anyone used to the Paris Metro (which isn’t necessarily the case for this family, as they’re from “Northern France”) the Montreal Metro is not even on the radar, with its (comparatively) very few lines and hardly any stations.
My point is only that you can’t expect outsiders to have very good knowledge of such matters.
Ephraim 10:20 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
Sometimes it’s a matter of what’s available. This weekend phones were ringing off the hook for last minutes rooms. And people were staying in Midtown, Laval, HoMa, those hotels in St-Leonard/Anjou and of course the South Shore.
They may live in suburbia and not think of Montreal that way. I had someone from the midwest who I told not to move their car (they had a free parking spot) but insisted that they would easily find a spot near the MMFA. 60 minutes later they were back, after not finding a spot near the MMFA only to not be able to find a free spot near here anymore. They took an Uber after that (in spite of me telling them to just take the 24 all the way there.
Blork 11:23 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
Many tourists are very averse to public transit. It’s a big unknown to them, and they probably assume it’s full of drunks and perverts.
Kevin 15:07 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
Every time I visit France I have never had a problem finding a clearly marked dedicated parking building near my destination.
Get a ticket on your way in, pay on your way out.
It is designed to be easy for international tourists.
Kate 15:09 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
Some Americans seem to feel that way, Blork, but European tourists?
Blork 15:25 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
Tourists aren’t always very bright. I imagine a typical European tourist itinerary for a summer week in Montreal to look something like this:
Monday morning: visit all the farmers markets. Load up on vegetables (which will then rot in the hotel room as they have no kitchen).
Monday afternoon: tour of Old Montreal and all of its historical sites and museums.
Tuesday morning: drive to Chibougamau for dog sledding and ice fishing.
Tuesday afternoon: visit all the Arcade Fire-referenced landmarks in Mile-end.
Wednesday: Drive to Lake Louise for the mountain views.
Thursday: Go orca watching in Vancouver.
Friday morning: Drive back to Montreal.
Friday afternoon and Saturday: Go to the Jazz Fest, the Just for Laughs festival, and the Grand-Prix.
Similarly, I can imagine a typical U.S.er tourist itinerary for a summer week in Montreal to look something like this:
Monday morning: go to St-Leonard to borrow a sidearm from a cousin, because FFS you can’t just walk around without a sidearm!
Monday afternoon: Extreme ribs tour! Visit all the BBQ joints in town eating their ribs and making TikTok videos about them.
Tuesday: Extreme zip lining! Go to all the zip line places within 100 miles and make TikTok videos about them.
Wednesday: Extreme water sports! Do all the water sports that involve loud boats and big waves! Make TikTok videos about them!
Thursday: Extreme French Deep-dive, without all the French people! Visit Old Montreal, then drive to Old Quebec City. Eat all the kwassants and poutines! Make TikTok videos about them!
Friday: Extreme French Food! Go to all the expensive French restaurants in town. (At $100 Canadian per plate, it’s practically free!) Don’t forget to make those TikTok videos!
Saturday: Extreme festivals! Go to Osheaga and the Jazz Festival, with extreme ax throwing in between! TikTok!
Joey 16:03 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
My hunch is that this kind of takeaway (Montreal is beautiful but it’s impossible to park in the old city) is the kind of thing that could have a long-lasting impact on tourism. Perhaps the sheer number of drivers in Old Montreal this weekend passed some mysterious threshold at which point everything just stalls right up; my inclination is to follow Occam… the federal officials who run the old port parking implemented a stupid system that created a bottleneck at the worst possible point* and it’s turned into a disaster. That the city Project folks who run the city see this as an opportunity to form some committees and study more radical changes that will be implemented slowly
Joey 16:05 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
(hit ‘reply’ too soon…)
… was entirely predictable.
*Why is this the worst place to create a bottleneck? Since the Old Port is more about walking around and less about a particular event (fireworks somewhat notwithstanding), it’s unlikely you would have a mass exodus of cars at a specific moment, like when a game ends and everyone leaves an arena. Surely a pay-as-you-leave system (with payment options via app/exit booth/pay stations would move things along more quickly.
Em 16:14 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
There also aren’t a lot of good park and ride options for people coming from outside the core.
It’s not just foreign tourists, but also people from the suburbs without good transit connections who only come to the city for big events.
Blork 16:40 on 2022-08-01 Permalink
I never thought I would say this, but these days there are some decent places to eat in Old Montreal, and an abundance of terraces, which brings in a lot more locals in the evenings and on weekends than we used to see. (Compare with the relative dearth of terraces downtown and in many other neighbourhoods.)
Plus with the Grand Roue and the zip line and all those kiosks along the prominade, it’s drawing more and more locals as a place to hang out (not that many locals go there to ride the Grande Roue, but its presence makes the area feel like a destination).
So if you’re from the Plateau or Mile-end, or Villeray, or Verdun (all places well connected to public transit) then you’ll probably go there by transit or Uber. But if you live anywhere else you might take a chance and drive — or at least up until now, since this story about the impossibility of parking and getting around is getting a lot of traction.
Aside: from my limited experience, the greatest congestion is on de la Commune. Notre-Dame can be clogged too, especially between the Basilica and about St-Laurent, but at least it moves. De la Commune can be like a parking lot.
Daniel 09:53 on 2022-08-02 Permalink
@Blork, I’m pretty sure your word count exceeds Kate’s on most pages. Can we cool it with the text walls? Save the fake tourist itineraries for your own blog?
Daniel D 10:10 on 2022-08-02 Permalink
The traffic does make the Old Port / Old Town a misery to walk around to be honest. Especially trying to cross over de la Commune, which feels like a death trap on foot.
I always thought it was a shame that back in the day when they planned the Yellow Line, they weren’t able to put a station in the Old Town or Port. I realise that there would have been huge engineering challenges to doing this though.
Anyone remember when they were considering a tram through the Old Port? https://www.cat-bus.com/2013/05/montreal-tram-study-going-about-it-the-wrong-way/
I think once you implement some decent transit down there, you can talk about making the area a low traffic neighbourhood.
Kate 10:21 on 2022-08-02 Permalink
Daniel, I’ll do the gatekeeping here, thank you. Blork can write what he likes.
Chris 09:25 on 2022-08-03 Permalink
>Why would a French tourist family drive to Old Montreal?
Probably for the same reasons almost everyone goes everywhere by car. No doubt you’re aware of the reasons. Some off the top of my head:
you can always sit, no chance of standing
much more comfortable seats
no standing in the rain/snow/sun waiting for a connection
no smelly/loud/obnoxious person right next to you
less chance of catching the dreaded covid
you can leave on your own schedule (though certainly not always arrive on your schedule!)
you’re in private space, not public space, so you can: smoke, blast your radio, not wear a mask, etc.