Deux-Montagnes ridership drops 9.5%
Commuters on the Deux-Montagnes line have seen a rare sight in recent weeks: free parking spots at the stations, as ridership has plummeted on the most-frequented suburban train line.
Hundreds of spots have been left empty at the usually full parking lots of the Bois-Franc and Du-Ruisseau stations in StLaurent.
On Wednesday, the commuter train authority Exo told the Montreal Gazette that ridership on the Deux-Montagnes line plummeted 9.5 per cent as of September, meaning there are about 3,000 fewer daily riders than there were last year.
Service interruptions have become more frequent on the line since builders of the upcoming Réseau express métropolitain (REM) closed off one of two tracks on a three-kilometre stretch.
The line is the only one in Exo’s network to see a decline. The Mascouche line, which is also affected by the construction, has seen an increase in ridership by about 0.5 per cent, according to Exo spokesperson Elaine Arsenault.
“It’s clear there are fewer people than there were last year,” said François Pépin, the president of the transit lobby group Trajectoire Québec. “And because there has not been a new public transit offering, we can assume that a lot of them are now taking cars.”
Commuters have been expressing their frustrations on the Facebook page: Mouvement/Rally Train Deux-Montagnes. Some have said they now drive to work, while others said they plan to sell their homes and move to an area that has better public transit access.
However, Pépin noted that for most people, it’s financially prohibitive to drive and pay to park downtown, or to move their place of residence. He said the regional transit authorities need to come up with reliable alternatives to the train. Time is of the essence, Pépin said, because the train line will be shut down for between two and three years, starting in January 2020, so the work on the new network can be completed. The REM is expected to be up and running in phases between 2021 and 2023.
So far, Exo has offered passes with 10 free trips to affected users so they can try different public transit options. Users of the Deux-Montagnes line can also benefit from up to a 30 per cent rebate on their monthly passes.
“We have to try to keep people using public transit,” said Pépin, who is also a regular user of the Deux-Montagnes line. “We know we are going to lose some people who will either take their cars or move away.”
The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, which oversees transit planning for the region, will be holding a forum later this year and invite the public to give their input on how best to provide transit alternatives for the period when the line will be closed. The agency said it hopes to provide users with a comprehensive solution by the fall of 2019.
If history repeats itself, thousands more will likely abandon public transit for cars, said Pierre Barrieau, an urban planning researcher who specializes in the history of the Mount Royal tunnel. The last time there was a significant interruption in service on the Deux-Montagnes line was when it was closed for upgrades in the summers of 1993, 1994 and 1995. At that time, ridership dropped by about half, and many never took the train again.
“Once people start taking their cars, they rarely go back to more sustainable modes of transportation,” Barrieau said.
“And in the case (of the REM), we’re looking at a longer block of time, so it gives people enough time to change their habits and get used to the car,” he said.