Metro to the West Island? One mayor says ‘yes’

BEACONSFIELD – Mayor Georges Bourelle has a dream: connect the green line of the metro system to Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport.

And though it’s an idea being greeted with cynicism, he thinks the time has come.

“It’s been so many years since we’ve talked about this,” he said in an interview at Beaconsfield City Hall.

“That’s why we felt it should be recognized and why we felt it should be part of our recommendations.”

Those recommendations were made by a committee Bourelle is on that includes municipal officials from all over the Island of Montreal.

The group publicly tabled its findings on Friday, and is scheduled to table them to the agglomerated city council on January 29.

The proposal comes just as the AMT announced cuts to service after Canadiens games at the Bell Centre, something that brings the issue of spotty off-peak transit for West Islanders into the downtown core into sharp relief.

WATCH: West Island shuttle bus service cut

“If you want to take the train, and spend an evening in Montreal, you’d have to be willing to either leave early, or find another way home,” Bourelle said.

The proposal was made in conjunction with recommendations for the long-awaited West Island train, which would serve Bourelle’s hometown of Beaconsfield as well as other far-West Island municipalities.

Unfortunately, he conceded, the West Island borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro would fall between these two light rail solutions.

The timetable the committee is working under for both is a decade.

Eric Dagenais, a student at John Abbott College, is part of the group that Bourelle hopes to better serve in the future.

He has a reverse commute, he lives in Dorval but attends class in Ste-Anne-de Bellevue at the far end of the island.

“Using the ordinary transport such as buses is a bit of a hassle,” he said.

To add light rail was something he’d ‘definitely be in favour of.’

So far as the STM is concerned, however, the proposal seems unlikely to get off the ground anytime soon.

“Due to the cost and the relatively low ridership, a green line extension is not a priority for the STM,” said Marvin Rotrand, the transportation agency’s vice chairman.

According to Rotrand, the cost of the project could exceed $2 billion.

People at Trudeau Airport were completely behind the idea, albeit with a tinge of cynicism.

“It would be convenient sure,” said one man boarding the 747 bus to downtown Montreal.

When asked if he thought it would happen, he simply said, “no, I don’t think they’ll spend the money.”