A series of business partnerships announced Friday are fleshing out what the user experience might look like on Montreal’s proposed $5.9-billion commuter train.
Quebec’s pension fund — which will fund the majority of the project — has reached a deal with Bixi, Téo Taxi and the Car2go car-share to help minimize the amount of passengers parking their cars along the proposed train route.
The ambitious project would connect Montreal’s South Shore to the Trudeau International Airport, West Island and Laval over a 67-kilometre, 27-station network. Financial considerations aside, one of the train’s biggest obstacles would be finding parking spaces at suburban stations.
Representatives of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec consortium backing the project hope Friday’s announcement will quell some of these fears.
“Our intention is to improve mobility … in the metropolitan area. To do this, it’s not enough to carry passengers in a new (train),” said Macky Tall, president of the Caisse’s infrastructure branch. “We also need to draw on global best practices and offer practical ways to access stations through active, shared or public transportation. Sustainable mobility does not begin at the station but at home, in the first and last kilometre of travel.”
About 50 per cent of Bixi subscribers ride the bikes to a métro, bus or train station, according to a study by the popular bike-share service.
The Caisse also announced Friday a partnership with Netlift, an online carpooling application, in hopes of alleviating congestion at the proposed train stops.
While the light rail project appears to be inching forward, there are still questions about the federal and provincial funding needed to complete it. Ottawa and Quebec haven’t yet committed to investing the remaining billions required to get the project off the ground.
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