The opening of the REM is indeed very exciting! In addition to what you mentioned in this article about rising construction costs and the difficulty to build transit projects effectively in Canada, another thing that I find worrisome is the fact that transit agencies are cutting bus service because of a lack of operating funds.
Historically, Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver have relied on frequent bus services to connect different parts of the city to rapid transit networks that tend to have fewer kilometers of track than systems in US cities like Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago. Despite this, the three largest Canadian cities have higher transit mode shares than any city in the US except New York City.
In Montreal, the service cuts have been so bad that bus lines that used to have buses every 10 minutes before the pandemic now have buses coming every 20 minutes. Considering that the only high-capacity higher-order transit projects being built currently in Montreal are the REM and the blue line extension (and that bus services are being cut because they’re expensive to operate), this leaves a huge part of the city without frequent, fast and reliable transit.
It does feel like Montreal managed to build a high quality project on a reasonable budget and a good time frame and then said “Great, let’s never do that again”
I’ll probably go to Montreal this weekend to check it out because there are a few things I’m curious about and want to see in person. Even then, I’m not going to rush to judgement on this project. Not only does it need to prove it can be reliable (a massive problem for recent Canadian transit projects) but there needs to be a lot more investigation into some of the potentially dodgy aspects of this project (for example, that low price tag that is often it’s central selling point is not entirely accurate).
As far as transit project costs go, it is important to remember this isn’t just a transit exclusive issue. Anything that requires the construction industry is seeing escalating costs. And the simple fact is that there is not enough labour and industrial capacity to meet demand (be it a metro line or new home). It’s been a problem decades in the making and as demand grows even faster than the increase in the construction industries capacity it’s just pushing costs up higher and higher.
And it’s a tough problem to solve when young people have almost no interest of getting into the trades (despite the fact that they are highly lucrative) because society has increasingly looked down on them and deemed them a lesser career. There is little chance of fixing the problem of rising transit costs without dealing with the root issue of a lack of trades people and construction industry capacity as a whole.
I'm pretty confident that it's going to be reliable, and not super worried about the financials of the project. Not having enough tradespeople is definitely a big problem, but in terms of transit there's definitely other aspects to it as well. Smart planning won't solve everything but it'll definitely help!
Nice, I wonder if we will ever see other places with freeway median stations add PSDs to deal with the noise, like the C-Line in LA or the Red Line in Chicago
I wish. But I doubt it. We in the US are too cheap and care too little about the transit user experience. Both because too many folks here in positions of authority still think of transit as primarily for poor people who can’t afford cars, and / or for morning and evening commutes. It doesn’t help when that anti-transit view is amplified by people like Elon Musk, who admittedly has a vested interest in perpetuating the driver + car mode of transport. In any event, bravo Montreal.
The opening of the REM is indeed very exciting! In addition to what you mentioned in this article about rising construction costs and the difficulty to build transit projects effectively in Canada, another thing that I find worrisome is the fact that transit agencies are cutting bus service because of a lack of operating funds.
Historically, Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver have relied on frequent bus services to connect different parts of the city to rapid transit networks that tend to have fewer kilometers of track than systems in US cities like Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago. Despite this, the three largest Canadian cities have higher transit mode shares than any city in the US except New York City.
In Montreal, the service cuts have been so bad that bus lines that used to have buses every 10 minutes before the pandemic now have buses coming every 20 minutes. Considering that the only high-capacity higher-order transit projects being built currently in Montreal are the REM and the blue line extension (and that bus services are being cut because they’re expensive to operate), this leaves a huge part of the city without frequent, fast and reliable transit.
Buses are so important and definitely a big part of why the TTC is so successful!
It does feel like Montreal managed to build a high quality project on a reasonable budget and a good time frame and then said “Great, let’s never do that again”
Totally agree, though the weird part is that the REM didn't even open before they made that decision!
I’ll probably go to Montreal this weekend to check it out because there are a few things I’m curious about and want to see in person. Even then, I’m not going to rush to judgement on this project. Not only does it need to prove it can be reliable (a massive problem for recent Canadian transit projects) but there needs to be a lot more investigation into some of the potentially dodgy aspects of this project (for example, that low price tag that is often it’s central selling point is not entirely accurate).
As far as transit project costs go, it is important to remember this isn’t just a transit exclusive issue. Anything that requires the construction industry is seeing escalating costs. And the simple fact is that there is not enough labour and industrial capacity to meet demand (be it a metro line or new home). It’s been a problem decades in the making and as demand grows even faster than the increase in the construction industries capacity it’s just pushing costs up higher and higher.
And it’s a tough problem to solve when young people have almost no interest of getting into the trades (despite the fact that they are highly lucrative) because society has increasingly looked down on them and deemed them a lesser career. There is little chance of fixing the problem of rising transit costs without dealing with the root issue of a lack of trades people and construction industry capacity as a whole.
I'm pretty confident that it's going to be reliable, and not super worried about the financials of the project. Not having enough tradespeople is definitely a big problem, but in terms of transit there's definitely other aspects to it as well. Smart planning won't solve everything but it'll definitely help!
You are both logical and constructive in a rational manner...
How is the noise level at platform level at the freeway median stations? Do the PSDs keep out most of the car noise?
Nope, it’s sealed quite well, although they sometimes have the windows at platform level open and it is loud then :D
Nice, I wonder if we will ever see other places with freeway median stations add PSDs to deal with the noise, like the C-Line in LA or the Red Line in Chicago
I wish. But I doubt it. We in the US are too cheap and care too little about the transit user experience. Both because too many folks here in positions of authority still think of transit as primarily for poor people who can’t afford cars, and / or for morning and evening commutes. It doesn’t help when that anti-transit view is amplified by people like Elon Musk, who admittedly has a vested interest in perpetuating the driver + car mode of transport. In any event, bravo Montreal.