Montreal has released its new 2050 Urban Planning and Mobility plan (only available in French), and I haven’t seen nearly enough talk about it (there has only been a little chatter on Twitter…
The TLDR is that the city isn’t focusing on getting costs down on things that have produced good (Metro) or promising (Automated Light Rail) results. It is focusing on things that didn’t end up being great investments (BRT) or that we haven’t done (Trams).
Based on the experience in Quebec City, trams are expensive AF to build here. RapidBus is something the city should look into, it sits between a BRT and a buslane. Easy to roll out quickly. When routes hit capacity, skip the tram and go straight to metro/REM.
The TLDR is that the city isn’t focusing on getting costs down on things that have produced good (Metro) or promising (Automated Light Rail) results. It is focusing on things that didn’t end up being great investments (BRT) or that we haven’t done (Trams).
Based on the experience in Quebec City, trams are expensive AF to build here. RapidBus is something the city should look into, it sits between a BRT and a buslane. Easy to roll out quickly. When routes hit capacity, skip the tram and go straight to metro/REM.