PIERREFONDS — Commuters who ride the AMT train at the Roxboro-Pierrefonds station are growing more and more frustrated.
It has nothing to do with train service itself, but rather with the parking at the station – more precisely, the lack of.
177 free spaces have been removed and are now reserved for commuters willing to pay $80 a month.
The problem is most of those places sit empty during the day while the remaining 710 free parking spots fill up by 8 AM.
Anyone who arrives later is forced to find parking elsewhere or drive to work.
“You have to shove and push to get into the train, so then to have what I consider an added tax on top of it is ridiculous,” one commuter said as she walked toward the platform to catch a rush hour morning train.
The reserved spots for paying only customers is part of a pilot project by the AMT that began July 1.
READ MORE: Parking fees coming to West Island train users
It will continue until next summer.
“When I’m standing on the platform having battled for the last space 40 minutes earlier than my train and I see all of these spaces sitting empty, I feel insulted,” said Sandy Weigens, who takes the train every day.
Many commuters are asking the AMT to unlock more of the reserved spaces to free up more places to park.
But the AMT has no plans to make any immediate changes.
In an email to Global News a spokesperson says results of the pilot project will be known in the fall of 2015 and to date, the AMT is very satisfied with the project.
But that’s not good enough for at least one Montreal city councillor representing the area around the station.
“Obviously they haven’t yet figured out what is the proper balance of paid parking versus free parking,” said Justine McIntyre, a councillor for Bois-de-Liesse.
READ MORE: Petition against paid parking at Pierrefonds-Roxboro train station
The councillor says the AMT should reassess the project to make appropriate changes.
“Certainly, we need to ask them to make some adjustments sooner rather than later,” she said.
The Deux-Montagnes line on which trains at the Roxboro-Pierrefonds station run along is the busiest on the AMT network.
There are over 10,000 of rides a day.
The battle to find free parking at the station is rattling the nerves of train users on what should be a stress free ride.
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