adma
Superstar
Again, I think she's trying to be to the 2010 Toronto mayoral race what Martha Hall Findlay was to the 2006 Liberal federal leadership race...
"Buses add to the gridlock in our city, they don't take away from it!" Hopefully I don't have to explain to you the flaw in this logic.
Hang on ... similiar sized subway system (with less capacity given smaller trains), and the area where the subway runs has a higher density than much of Toronto. Montreal's traffic problems tend to be related to the urban sprawl beyond where the Metro serves, and the bottle necks on the St. Lawrence and back river bridges.^Look at Montreal. Bigger subway system, less population. Traffic still a mess.
Montreal's system also suffers from less frequency on the subway, and very infrequent buses, which discourages transit use from those who aren't walking distance to the Metro.
Um...
"The Montreal metro system is currently Canada's longest subway system and the busiest in total daily passenger usage, serving an average of 989,000 daily passengers on an average weekday in 2009. In 2008, 291.6 million riders (transfers not included) used the Metro. According to the STM website the metro system has transported over 6 billion passengers as of 2006, roughly equivalent to the world's population. Montreal has built North America's most ambitious inner-city rapid transit scheme outside of Washington, D.C., serving the third-largest number of passengers overall behind New York and Mexico City and attracting the second-highest ridership per capita behind New York."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro
Toronto should be so lucky as Montrealers are to have reliable and affordable BRT, subways and commuter-rail practically everywhere one would want to go in the GMA, where the transit commission there are actively in the process of adding another 20 kilometres of metro. Viva le Thomson 2010!
Um... Montreal does not have any operating BRT. They experiment with a BRT system but it ended following a tragic accident in 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_bus_rapid_transit) and it still hasn't reopened. And while the inner city transit is great it is less frequent then in Toronto especially at night. The metro closes at 12.30 during the week and at 1am on the weekend, where i've waited almost 15 minutes for a train, which is unheard of in Toronto. Also many parts of the island are under served so I would hardly argue that transit is good everywhere in the GMA. For example the West part of the Island is very under served, as is the South shore and Laval. Montreal is an island, lots of bottlenecks!
Yeah, I don't see the TTC providing BRT service out to Pickering, York Region or Mississauga so I don't know why you feel that STM's obligated to provide such service to the various less-populated municipalities surrounding the City of Montreal including all those in West Island. Speaking of BRT, it is not limited to Pie Ix which is currently operational btw. There's dedicated bus-only ROW along numerous corridors: Cremazie, Henri Bourassa, Papineau, Rene Leveque, Cote des Neiges, Sherbroke Est, Boulevard Newman, Parc as well all-day express bus service along Autoroute 20 to the very tip of West Island. The BRT along Cote des Neiges and Parc have been so successful and so heavily rode on in fact that now the City's looking into upgrading these corridors to tramways. The metro closing an hour ahead of our's is no big deal. Whose financing them keeping the subway open an extra hour for a few thousand riders riding it at that time?
Point is, Montreal is a place that actually gets things done, keeps to its expansion promises and Toronto could stand to learn a lot from them.
It is however less frequent, especially off-peak, has smaller trains, and shorter service hours. And it's noticeable less busy off-peak.Um...
"The Montreal metro system is currently Canada's longest subway system and the busiest in total daily passenger usage