A regular reader passed me this link in the Guardian in which Mayor Plante comes in for praise for her clean air policies (“Ulez” is short for “ultra-low emissions zone”). The article is forthright about the resistance several mayors are facing internationally when trying to reduce vehicle exhaust in their cities.
Updates from August, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A CDPQ-Infra spokesman says they learned a lot in the first week of the REM’s operation.
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Kate
TVA has a story about a cop who stripped a Black man in the street to search him, back in 2020. The victim is suing.
CBC has a story about a Black PhD student whom police arrested with violence in NDG last month. The man was walking with a friend (described as a member of an Indigenous group, although to the eye he could be taken as white), when they saw a police action taking place and decided to walk around it. They were forcibly put in handcuffs. Both men were given bogus charges of jaywalking and hindering police. They’re filing formal complaints.
I’d heard the second story on radio and went to find it via Google. Don’t put “black arrested police montreal” into Google, because you’ll be there all day.
Greenwashing 19:42 on 2023-08-05 Permalink
Valerie Plante is better at branding herself as an environmentalist than being one, having effectively nixed the REM B without any viable alternative in the works, and reduced bus service. Ironically, Denis Coderre was a better environmentalist than she is, having not obstructed an entire new metro system for the region.
Nicholas 20:43 on 2023-08-05 Permalink
The REM B was a bad project. It largely duplicated other service (Green line, buses on Sherbrooke E that would travel similar speeds, Pie-IX BRT, Mascouche Line, Blue Line extension) that could be improved at significantly lower costs. (Yes, some of those projects were also more expensive than they should have been.) The Pink Line is a better project than the REM B, and should be funded. Bus service absolutely needs to improve; it’s a fair criticism that it has atrophied (though I’m not sure when that started). The region is not effectively using its rail infrastructure. But the REM was another project, decided at a level well above the city, that was focused on extending transit far into the fringes of the urban area rather than focus on more central areas with higher density and propensity for transit that could benefit from better service.
Greenwashing 21:57 on 2023-08-05 Permalink
Maybe I’m missing something, but how do you get from anywhere on the Lacordaire corridor or east of Honoré-Beaugrand to downtown at a similar speed, frequency and convenience to the REM B? As far as I know there are no projects in the works that will replace that service? As for the section running parallel to the green line, it’s quite normal for metro systems to have lines running parallel to each other. The service for people south of the green line would have improved, it gives redundancy to the green line (which was projected to have been over capacity ten years after the REM’s opening anyway), and it enables one seat rides from Montreal-Nord and Pointe-aux-Trembles, which is important for speed and convenience. So, the REM B was not duplicated by other services by any means, and is not a “bad” project.
The pink line was absolutely a great idea. Indeed I voted for Mme Plante with excitement that it would be realized, but now it’s six years later and where are the funded plans for it? The mayor had a chance to adopt a compromise design in the form of the REM B, rejected it, and now we have nothing, plus reduced bus service. As for when the bus service atrophied, the 10 minute max service (introduced in 2010) was scrapped this January, even as Mme Plante is constantly advertising Projet Montreal’s commitment to “sustainable mobility.” As I understand it, the STM was faced with a budget shortfall partially because of the free transit for seniors promise, which is a good initiative, but if it also means reduced bus service then ultimately a kind of shell game is being played on the public. The Plante admin also decided to build an underground palace of a bus garage at double the price of the original aboveground option to avoid “visual pollution” of Rosemont. It won lots of fancy awards, but it also cost $214 million more that perhaps we could have used for bus service!
The fact that the original REM was a provincial level project has no bearing on the criticism and comparison of Plante and Coderre’s policies. The REM B was also decided at the level above the city, and Mme Plante could have simply gone along with it, and we would have metro service for the east end with construction starting now. Instead, she decided to give credence to the melodramatic comparisons to the 40 highway, or assertions that it would “scar” our existing 8 lane road. Now, she’s set the precedent that any pressure group can veto public transit in the name of “social acceptability”. I hope that precedent won’t be honoured, but we’ll see.
Ultimately, I’m a simple guy. When Projet Montreal ran in 2017, they promised
increased bus service
a new metro line for the east end
What we got, six years later:
reduced bus service
funded east end metro line proposal rejected
It’s hard not to feel like we were taken for a ride in 2017. It seems to me that Projet Montreal are first and foremost aesthetic “environmentalists”. If it’s not beautiful it’s no good. Sadly that doesn’t do anything for public transit users, nor does it help open up new areas of the city to housing, jobs, and recreation.
PS, if on the off chance any Projet staffers are reading this blog, I want you to consider who your constituency is. Is it the people waving around drawings of a sad car being overshadowed by a menacing metro train (https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/new-rem-de-lest-should-be-underground-and-link-to-laval-report-says), or is it the masses who supported your election breakthrough in 2017 on the promise of better transit service for the island?
qatzelok 23:20 on 2023-08-05 Permalink
@Greenwashing: “The pink line was absolutely a great idea. Indeed I voted for Mme Plante with excitement that it would be realized, but now it’s six years later and where are the funded plans for it?”
They’re sitting in a dusty can marked “REM de l’est.” So thank goodness the money is still there!
Uatu 11:08 on 2023-08-06 Permalink
Plante really doesn’t have any say in transit development since everything has to be provincially approved anyway. It’s the law. If Legault wanted he could just go right ahead and build the REM de l’est just like he built the current REM which had no input from Plante or Coderre’s administrations and was basically imposed on the city by Quebec and the caisse. Just like the changes made in the tunnel in Quebec City recently and that’s why I think he doesn’t want to do it: he doesn’t want to anger the east end nimbys who are caq voters and lose political points. It’s easier to blame Plante and make himself look better.
Greenwashing 13:13 on 2023-08-06 Permalink
No, Plante absolutely has a say in transit development. She had her say, and it resulted in the project being shelved. The CDPQ responded to the initial criticism of the plan from local groups (boosted by the mayor), by revising the designs significantly, but that was not enough (https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/plante-says-rem-de-lest-planners-have-more-work-to-do). The rejections of the revised design were what led her to claim to have “saved the project” (https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2022/05/05/on-a-sauve-le-rem-de-lest-dit-valerie-plante) and the result of that intervention was a much worse and colossally more expensive plan that was immediately rejected by the province. (It would have never passed cost-benefit analysis).
The “East End Nimby’s” demonstrating against the REM de l’Est were largely in Quebec Solidaire and Parti Quebecois territory, not in Point-Aux-Tremble’s CAQ riding. Indeed, Quebec Solidaire came out with a promise not to have any elevated guideway. If I had to guess, I think Plante is leaving open the possibility for a move to provincial or national politics, but we’ll have to see about that.
Ultimately, I think Plante did not take advantage of the opportunities inherit in the situation. Far from being a bad thing, the fact that the project was controlled by the CDPQ left her and other municipal leaders the opportunity to deflect opposition from NIMBY’s, claiming that the project was take-it-or-leave-it, out of her control. Coderre let the CDPQ do their thing, but Plante made herself the voice of NIMBY’s against transit, leading to the unviable plan to bury the whole thing.
In general, I think Canadians are too quick to excuse gross failures and broken promises at all levels of government by pointing to “jurisdiction.” If Projet has no influence over transit system development, why would they have promised a new line in 2017? The truth is that they do have influence, and they used it to reject the viable project that was on offer.
As for the other comment claiming that the REM de l’Est funding will be redirected to the Pink Line, that’s not the case since the main funder (CDPQ) will not be funding the Pink Line.
Kate 17:36 on 2023-08-06 Permalink
Greenwashing – whoever you are, your email address is clearly bogus – you know well that some of the aspects of the REM de l’Est as proposed, including running an elevated train along René‑Lévesque downtown, and right through the prettiest parts of Maisonneuve too, caused an uproar because they were unwelcome even if efficient additions to the city’s transit. “Smack it down and they’ll have to swallow it” is not good politics at any level.
There’s nothing wrong with a mayor saying “This doesn’t suit us – back to the drawing board, please.” Something will eventually percolate out as an improvement to east‑end transit, and it’s not shameful if it takes a little longer, if that means it reaches general assent.
Greenwashing 18:16 on 2023-08-06 Permalink
Personally, I don’t consider it possible to “scar” an eight lane road with an elevated metro, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on that. There’s no perfect project, and all projects are unwelcome to some people. I’ll note that the mayor adopted the “smack it down and they’ll swallow it” approach to bike lanes, which also caused an uproar, and in the end that’s turning out just fine.
In any case, I look forward to the improved alternative, and from my perspective the mayor can claim her green credentials when frequent bus service is restored and a new metro line has shovels in the ground. Until then, I don’t see the basis for an international reputation for environmentalism.
Meezly 22:33 on 2023-08-06 Permalink
How conveniently one forgets that even at the end of 2022, the STM only reached 70% of its pre-pandemic ridership levels and they’re actually actually trying to maintain their bus services despite a deficit of almost $80 million!
I recall how not long after Plante became mayor, that bus service was actually improving. The new 35 bus route that was implemented in 2018 actually made my daily commute easier. But I don’t take the bus anymore since I’ve been WFH since the 2020 pandemic, thus contributing to the reduced ridership.
Plante ain’t perfect, but it’s confounding how people love to blame her for everything, including reduced bus service. I just wish that people who want to blame Plante can do so for things that are worth blaming her for.