Station to finally get elevator
Dependence on three lifts could limit access to métro for those in wheelchairs
A long-awaited elevator to the Bonaventure métro station could finally see the light — nine years later than anticipated.
In 2010, the station was one of the first in the city to get an elevator, but has only one of two elevators necessary for the station to be considered universally accessible.
The elevator links the platform to the turnstile level, but there is no elevator to get from the station itself to street level, or from any of the buildings linking the station to the city’s underground. The only elevator nearby is in the Marriott Chatêau Champlain hotel, and there is a staircase between the elevator and the station.
Now the Réseau de transport métropolitain says the project will finally be completed by the end of 2019.
You might think it would be easy to build an elevator in that station, considering both the Société de transport de Montréal and the RTM either own or rent space in the areas slated for elevator construction, but the project has been revised and delayed many times.
Back in 2011, a $5.9-million plan was announced to build three elevators to both the Bonaventure station and the South Shore bus terminals. That project was delayed, however, because the AMT revised its design of the elevators in 2012 to make them larger.
Construction on the revised project finally began last year, and the work site has become apparent in recent weeks to the hundreds of commuters who use the building as a transit point, because an access door to the north terminal from inside the building was blocked, and will remain so for the duration of the work.
The project is now estimated to cost $9.3 million; three-quarters of that total will be paid by Quebec’s transport department.
However, none of the elevators will link the Bonaventure métro station directly to street level.
Instead, métro passengers will have to take three elevators to get outside: one linking the platform to the turnstile level, another one to the South Shore bus terminal and a third to get to the main floor of 1000 De La Gauchetière, the building known as the Atrium.
Linda Gauthier, a spokesperson for Regroupement des activistes pour l’inclusion au Québec (RAPLIQ) — a grassroots movement challenging the city and province on issues of accessibility — said she was disappointed to hear about the RTM’s plan.
Gauthier said the métro’s elevators break down often, so requiring people in wheelchairs to take three elevators can be a problem.
“To me, it’s not acceptable, but if this is the only way this can be done, then I guess that’s the price of freedom,” she said. “To us, taking the métro is freedom. It’s better than having to take paratransit.”
Gauthier’s group is suing both the city of Montreal and its transit agencies for a lack of accessibility. She said it’s taken too long for Bonaventure, one of the city ’s busiest stations, to become accessible.
“I won’t applaud them for finally doing it,” she said.