MONTREAL – The Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (AMT) has been trying desperately to reduce gridlock on the highways by urging Montrealers to use public transit for years.
However, it seems their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
The commuter train ridership has dropped by 0.5 per cent, a first since 2009 when it fell 3.2 per cent.
The Deux-Montagnes train line is expected to be one of the main sources of this decrease.
Usually the AMT’s busiest route, the organization is reporting its Deux-Montagne ridership is down by 2.4 per cent, or 7.7 million trips.
It was at 7.9 million in 2012.
Part of the reason may be due to track work that completely shut the line for several weekends in 2013.
In addition, the Mont-Ste-Hilaire (check spelling) line has fallen by 0.5 per cent to 2.22 million rides. Some say the ridership drop may have been affected by frequent delays.
The Vaudreuil-Hudson line, the AMT’s second busiest, remained steady at 3.9 million rides. (end here)
But it’s not all bad news for the AMT.
The St-Jérôme line has seen an increase of 2.7 per cent in 2013, or around 2.5 million rides.
This comes after the AMT increased St-Jérôme’s weekday services as well as introduced a weekend schedule.
The least-used line, coming from Candiac, has seen a 3.2 per cent ridership increase.
That’s around one million rides.
The AMT had added cars to the rush hour trains when traffic on the Champlain Bridge got too much to handle for some South Shore commuters.
Global News called the AMT’s spokesperson, but were told they were unavailable for comment.
By the end of 2013, the AMT estimates its five train lines will have seen around 17.36 million rides – down from 17.45 million in 2012.
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