Montreal mayor in Paris, recommends tramways

[green22]

Official visit to Paris: Gerald Tremblay is seduced by Parisian tramways:
www.ledevoir.com/2006/02/21/102576.html

Interesting points from article:
--Paris
Parisiens using public transit: 70%
Paris suburbanites using public transit: 60%
Percentage of auto parking that is free: 0% (last free public parking eliminated)
Reduction of auto traffic in the last 4 years: 14%
Parisiens in favour of LRT: 69%
Mayor of Paris has systematic campaign to take roadspace away from vehicles, when he became mayor 96% of roadspace was dedicated to cars/trucks.
17 bus routes of 59 will be in reserved lanes (does not include reserved streetcar lanes).
Paris has built and will continue building tramways.

--Montreal
Predicted cost of LRT line: $50 million / km
Savings over a metro line: 50%
3 proposed tramway projects:
Jean Talon station (blue line) to old montreal by Avenue du Parc
Rue Notre Dame from the centre to end of the island.
Peel basin to subway (Port agency project coincides with changing elevated Bonavenure freeway into a street)
www2.ccnmatthews.com/scri...7051n.html

--Toronto (for comparison)
Cost of a streetcar line in reserved lanes: $15 million / km
Cost of a tunneled subway line: $160-200 million / km

I think one should be careful when looking at subway/streetcar/bus right-of-way costs on a general basis. It really depends on the line itself. For example the conversion of St. Clair already replaced exiting tracks, no need to mess with underground utilities or build new underground station at St. Clair West. Is it a streetcar line like Queen street, in the centre of the street like Spadina, or along a railroad track like blue22? Are stations or sections be underground or elevated? Will new right-of-way need to required?

London and Paris seem to be competing for most sustainable, vibrant status. I haven't been to either city so won't speculate on who's ahead, but there are definitely some important lessons for other cities. Miller went to London and now Tremblay to Paris. It's really tough trying to create a sustainable city when upper levels of government are following typical north american sprawl policies. Our suburbs are no where near 60% transit use and current policies will do nothing to change this. One of the main forms of transit in our suburbs (GO rail) is increasingly dependent on car use just in order to be accessed.

 

[wyliepoon]

It seems like every time the mayor of Montreal goes to Paris, he has to bring back a huge souvenir. Wasn't it Jean Drapeau who insisted on the Montreal Metro to be rubber-tired, or that Roger Taillbert design Olympic Stadium, after looking at what happened in Paris?

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

One tram line is allready inderway in terms of planning. It would travel on Parc and would then travel down Rene-Levesque and dow towards the waterfront. The first phase. the Parc line, I believe is undergoing EA's right now and is roughly scheduled to start once the Parc/Pin interchange has been completed. Ive had trouble following its status but I would not be surprised to see the Parc section begin construction in Spring of '07 unless it get bumps for another project (AMT is really pushing to get their projects to the top of the list).

Wylie: It seems to be a Montreal tradition which makes me wish more trips to Paris were made.

 

[bizorky]

Montreal once had streetcars. They abandoned them in favour of buses. Everything old is new, again.

 

[green22]

Added this, since it mentions Paris & London yet again. Not as much mention of other European cities, perhaps because these are number 1 tourist sdestinations. I thought with the olympics we'd get some coverage of Milan or Rome, but only heard about Turino which unfortunatly relaxed its car restrictions during the olympics and was described as polluted. Wonder how Bejing will fare.

N.Y.C. is Too Good to Car Drivers
New York Daily News
By Lenore Skenazy

Incredible. More people just keep driving into Manhattan - 60% in private cars - and the city just keeps letting them, as if this is an inalienable right.

(Qualification: NYC has many free bridges onto the island paid for by property taxes. It has also instituted bans on single car occupancy into Manhattan to deal with 911, security concerns and traffic congestion. All restrictions were lifted in 2005)

The majority of us get around without cars. Why should we have to cede them valuable street space? Why can't we have wider sidewalks and smoother sailing for our buses?

The rationale has always been that drivers keep our economy afloat. But a new Transportation Alternatives study shows only 6% of shopping trips in Manhattan are made by car. Moreover, 90% of the people who drive to their Manhattan jobs could get there quickly and efficiently by public transit.

Mayor Bloomberg may think he's a forward-looking guy, but when it comes to serving his pedestrian majority, he's way behind our rival cities, including:

LONDON: King of car control! In 2003, London started charging cars about $14 a day to drive into the busiest part of the city. Oh, the grumbling.

But today, almost the same number of people travel into central London, while the number of cars is down by almost a third. Hmm. Less traffic, less pollution and the same amount of commerce. Why can't we do that?

PARIS: In the summer, Paris has taken to closing one of its main arteries - the equivalent of our FDR Drive - and turning it into a beach, complete with sand.

"Traffic is not an immutable force," says Paul White, head of Transportation Alternatives. "When faced with less space to drive and more places to walk, people will alter their behavior and walk more, drive less."

Paris has also erected bus lane barriers, notes traffic consultant Bruce Schaller. These are actual curbs that keep other vehicles from sneaking into the space reserved for buses, taxis and (this is not the best part of the plan) bicyclists. Thus, Parisian buses actually travel faster than pedestrians. Imagine.

LOS ANGELES: Even L.A., car capital of the Western World, is ahead of us when it comes to rethinking traffic, and in particular, parking.

To cut down on the number of cars circling for parking spaces, L.A. is raising its meter fees. The higher the fee, the quicker that drivers pull out. L.A. business districts are experimenting to find the perfect price that keeps about 15% of parking spaces free at all times.

These towns realize that they have kowtowed to drivers too long. They stopped. A great city like New York should be just as, well, driven.

 

[Darkstar416]

"Traffic is not an immutable force,"

I agree. Too bad most cities (including T.O.) treat it as such.

 

[Christopher DeWolf]

considering that the average per-kilometre cost of LRT is about $35 million/km, it would seem that the extra $15 million/km for the park avenue line will be devoted to the mayor's promised "neighbourhood revitalization."

problem is, what does that mean? $15 million per kilometre for new sidewalks and street furniture is a hell of a lot, unless there's something i'm missing. maybe the mayor is deliberately inflating the cost of the project to avoid a laval metro debacle (the province promised the whole thing would cost less than $200 million, which was absolute bullshit -- but people ate it up and were then outraged when it actually cost $800 million, far more typical of subway construction).

 

[miketoronto]

Interesting that 60% of suburbanites in Paris use transit. Or do they mean 60% who commute to central Paris? Because Paris' suburban bus ridership is kinda low when you look at the almost 7 million people it serves.

Actually according to Wendle Cox, only the poor use transit in the suburbs of Paris, and the people with means drive everywhere including into Paris

 

[Mislav]

Percentage of auto parking that is free: 0% (last free public parking eliminated)

You're saying there's not a single spot in Paris to park for free?

 

[Brighter Hell]

Actually according to Wendle Cox, only the poor use transit in the suburbs of Paris, and the people with means drive everywhere including into Paris

anything by wendel cox needs to be taken with a heaping tablespoon of salt.

 

[green22]

last free public parking eliminated)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You're saying there's not a single spot in Paris to park for free?

As, said before I've never been to Paris, but it says public parking, meaning on-street and any municipal parking. The fact that the government gives away parking in all North American cities while talking about the desire to reduce driving is the more surprising thing to me. However politics doesn't have to be logical.

I would imagine that private industry in Paris gives away free parking spaces, but this would depend on whether Paris has parking requirements and how high they were. Obviously the older buildings wouldn't be forced to provide parking spaces as this would destroy the character of the city, even most North Amercan districts have not pushed too hard to force older buildings to meet these codes as long as buildings don't perform major renovations, change use or expand.

This is one of the factors that works against revitalizing main street retail. If you want to improve your lot you have to find a place to offer free parking. Put it in front and you've got a strip mall which hurts the character of the street that you paid good money to buy into, put it in back and you have less density and customers are'nt likely to even use it, put it underground and you have major costs which can only be met by tearing down the block and charging high rates. The private market can sometimes be pretty inventive especially in areas where the market is hot, but most of Toronto's main streets where the market is not hot are out of luck.

There's also a tax advantage to covering your lot with as much parking (especially surface) as possible. This tax benefit was made somewhat smaller when the Ontario conservatives changed the tax code, but the benefits are still there. It's probably part of the reason that a few surface lots have been eliminated since the law was passed. It's a twisted set of laws that conspire to use some of the most valuable space in the country for the daily parking of a few vehicles. Not exactly the highest and best use land except from a CAA point of view.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

It seems there has been a slight change in project priorities over the past few days. The Parc tramway has been pushed aside for the momment and instead funding is going towards a new commuter line to Mascouche and Repentigny. The cost will be $250 - $300 million. Im not sure when the exact start date will be but given all the required EA's have been completed and all affected municipalities are on board I would suspect this will start very soon. I also believe that this line is too be electrified which is something Im glad to see.

Looks like tramways will get their chance again in 2 years when election time roles around. Below is an article from La Presse and I will post an english one if I come across one as well.

Edit: I have also attached a map which shows in magenta the new line to be constructed. The line will terminate at Mascouche-Terrebone with the L'Assomption extension to be completed at a later date. Also the yellow dashed line through Laval is news too me so Im not sure what the status of this line is. Luckily this will utilize the tunnel under the mountain and as a result saves 8 minutes one way for a total time of 58 minutes. There will be Metro connections as well and I have also heard that it will be in a tunnel from Parc Metro station to the Pie IX station although this I cant confirm as of yet. Regardless, its a nice little project and Im glad to see this one moving forward.

---------------------------------------------------------

Un plan costaud pour Montréal

Denis Lessard

La Presse

Québec

Un nouveau train de banlieue pour desservir l'Est et l'engagement de terminer la 30 de même que le pont de la 25: le gouvernement Charest a un plan costaud pour la métropole d'ici la fin de son mandat.

Dans son message inaugural hier à l'Assemblée nationale, M. Charest a souligné que son gouvernement allait continuer d'investir dans les transports en commun, «en inaugurant le métro de Laval et en procédant au renouvellement du matériel roulant du métro de Montréal», un contrat de 1,2 milliard que la population de La Pocatière voudrait voir attribuer, sans appel d'offres, à Bombardier.

Mais surtout, M. Charest a indiqué qu'il comptait sous peu annoncer un nouvel investissement «majeur» pour les transports en commun dans la métropole. Selon des sources fiables, Québec est sur le point d'annoncer la mise en service d'un train de banlieue depuis longtemps sur la table à dessin de l'Agence métropolitaine de transports.

Pendant des mois, l'AMT et le ministère des Transports ont négocié sur le tracé du projet de train- la voie existe déjà- qui coûtera entre 250 et 300 millions.

Le Conseil du Trésor autorisera ce printemps le plan triennal d'immobilisation qui prévoit cette liaison, entre Mascouche, Repentigny et la station l'Acadie pour se terminer à la Gare centrale. Des sources aux Transports ont souligné que la liaison entre Mascouche et Repentigny pourrait aussi se faire par autobus, selon le scénario retenu.

Pendant plusieurs mois, une partie de bras de fer s'est jouée entre le ministère et l'AMT. Transports Québec voulait échelonner la réalisation du projet et, pour économiser, établir la liaison avec la station de métro Sauvé ou Du Collège. L'an dernier, le nouveau titulaire des Transports, Michel Després, s'était engagé à ce que ce projet soit annoncé dans les 12 mois.

Multiples projets

Ce projet n'est qu'une des propositions de l'AMT. L'organisme a un carnet de projets de développement atteignant les 800 millions de dollars, indique-t-on à Québec. On voudrait aussi augmenter le volume de voyageurs sur les lignes existantes, qui «explosent» aux heures de pointe. Mais ces améliorations sont freinées par la disponibilité du matériel roulant, par une longue liste d'autorisations et par des carnets de commandes déjà volumineux.

Dans son message inaugural, M. Charest a aussi rappelé que le transfert de la taxe fédérale sur l'essence accordera à la métropole 290 millions pour ses infrastructures et 300 millions pour les transports en commun, sur cinq ans.

M. Charest s'est formellement engagé à ce que les routes promises se fassent. Montréal sera «doté d'une voie de contournement avec l'autoroute 30, qui rendra son propre réseau routier plus efficace pour son économie. Nous allons accélérer le désengorgement grâce à l'autoroute 25 et par la réfection de la rue Notre-Dame», a soutenu le premier ministre. Mais il y a bien peu de chances que ces travaux soient réalisés avant les prochaines élections, dans un an environ.

Toujours sur Montréal, M. Charest s'est engagé à ce que la construction des hôpitaux universitaires démarre. Ces nouveaux hôpitaux «vont donner une nouvelle impulsion à la médecine universitaire et placeront Montréal à l'avant-garde des sciences de la santé». Parlant des hôpitaux de l'Université de Montréal et de McGill, il a souligné qu'il s'agissait «d'un des plus importants investissements dans le secteur de la santé en Amérique et au monde».