Officials at the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) are meeting with the public until Jan. 24 to get their input to improve public transit between Dorval and downtown, especially in the boroughs of Lachine, LaSalle and Verdun.
Public transit in the boroughs is limited to express buses that often get caught in traffic and infrequent commuter trains.
Several options are on the table, including building express lanes for a bus rapid transit system, extending the green metro line and starting a new tramway line that would run between the Dorval bus and train terminal to downtown with stops in the southern parts of Lachine, LaSalle and Verdun.
“At the moment, all options are on the table,” Patrick Charpentier, the ARTM southwest transit director, told Global News.
Talks and studies on building a new tramway in the area have occurred for years.
Tracks for a tramway and streetcar system ran through the industrial sector of Lachine in the 19th century.
Charpentier says the area has grown tremendously in recent years and more commercial and residential development is expected in the future.
“There’s a real need in this area and we need to act,” he said.
Farther east, plans to extend the blue metro line to Anjou are already underway and Montreal’s mayor argues multiple transit projects can happen at the same time.
“We don’t have time to wait for one project to be ended before we start a new one,” Valérie Plante said during a press conference.
The goal of the project for the area isn’t to replace the car but to offer more transit options to the public and improve traffic fluidity.
“We hope that many car users will drop their cars and use transit instead of being alone in their car,” François Pépin, a board member of Trajectoire Québec, told Global News.
The ARTM will submit its results from the public consultations to the Quebec government, where a decision will be made on the best mode of public transit for the area.