Kramberger: Parking and bus routes for West Island REM stations are unresolved

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The long-term success of the Réseau specific métropolitain community by means of the suburban West Island can’t ignore repeated calls for for ample park-and-ride choices, which could possibly be used to entice ridership from neighbouring municipalities that don’t have a light-rail station of their territory, reminiscent of Beaconsfield or the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area.

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A lot of the West Island is low-density residential and plenty of potential customers will not be inside cheap strolling distance of a REM station. Biking, carpooling to a chosen kiss-and-ride drop-off station or taking a bus are choices.

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The West Island can be served by 4 stations alongside Freeway 40 in Pointe-Claire, Kirkland and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue as a part of the Anse-à-l’Orme leg, in addition to two stations in japanese Pierrefonds-Roxboro which are a part of the Two Mountains leg. One other station will serve Trudeau airport in Dorval.

The town of Kirkland took issues into its personal arms and reached out to the house owners of the RioCan purchasing centre property, basically bypassing CDPQ Infra, which manages the $6.9-billion REM venture, to supply roughly 200 reserved parking areas for residents of Kirkland who need to journey the REM. The town, which has a inhabitants of round 20,000, knowledgeable Broccolini Actual Property Group and RioCan Actual Property Funding Belief that the REM parking spots can be a situation to issuing a constructing allow for a mixed-use redevelopment of the purchasing centre property alongside Jean-Yves St. that can embrace high-density housing. How the reserved parking spots can be monitored stays to be decided. The town continues to be ready on redevelopment plans to be submitted for approval, so it’s not a accomplished deal.

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“They know (incentive REM parking) is considered one of our priorities. If they need a allow, they should adjust to what we wish of their plans. It’s going to be parking for Kirkland residents. That’s the best way we’re working at it,” Mayor Michel Gibson stated.

The mayor stated his metropolis is justified in prohibiting entry to non-residents, noting the 200 spots pale as compared with the two,000 spots talked about in preliminary discussions for a Kirkland station — these had been taken off the desk a number of years in the past. REM officers weren’t within the image throughout current parking discussions for the Kirkland station, Gibson stated.

Infrastructure tasks to modernize the Freeway 40-Ste-Marie overpass and opening a north-south city boulevard into Pierrefonds simply west of the Kirkland station should be addressed, Gibson added.

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The park-and-ride possibility on the Fairview-Pointe-Claire station, on the nook of Fairview Ave. and the Freeway 40 service highway, has but to be confirmed by CDPQ Infra.

There was an assumption that parking for this station can be resolved by the adjoining Fairview purchasing centre property, however a dispute over a proposed plan for residential high-rises in a part of the lot has seemingly put this concept in limbo. Cadillac Fairview filed authorized motion after Pointe-Claire metropolis council tabled an interim management bylaw final 12 months that halted any residential growth within the purchasing centre parking zone in addition to the close by Fairview Forest, which is now fenced in a symbolic gesture geared toward metropolis corridor and protestors calling for preservation of the non-public property.

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The Anse-à-l’Orme end-of-line station, alongside Ste-Marie Street, will supply 200 parking spots arrange by CDPQ Infra. These gained’t be reserved for residents of Ste-Anne, a city of about 5,000 that can also be dwelling to John Abbott School and McGill College’s Macdonald campus.

CDPQ Infra notes that the Des Sources station close to Hymus Blvd. is to have round 500 parking spots. The 2 stations in Pierrefonds-Roxboro will supply a mixed 1,300 spots, that are a part of leftover infrastructure from the mothballed commuter prepare line that shut down in 2020 to make method for the REM venture.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough Mayor Jim Beis doesn’t assume sufficient potential park-and-ride spots can be made obtainable throughout the West Island stations to fulfill demand.

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Suggestions so as to add multi-level parking on the Pierrefonds-Roxboro stations or to supply shuttle companies from different potential designated parking spots within the borough, which has a territory that stretches about 30 kilometres, have up to now been ignored, Beis stated.

The Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough is a bed room group with many residents remoted from public transit routes, leaving them going through lengthy walks to present bus stops, Beis famous.

“We’ve got but to listen to of any concrete options that can resolve the difficulty of selling public transit, of permitting folks to make use of (the REM),” he added.

In addition to the 200 reserved spots in Kirkland not being open to residents of western Pierrefonds, Beis stated that quantity is a drop within the bucket. “It gained’t do a lot to assist folks take public transit, to convey their automobiles and park them after which take the prepare (as a substitute of driving on the freeway).”

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Beis has not seen proposals for integrating Société de transport de Montréal (STM) bus strains into the REM community, though every West Island station has platforms for disembarkation.

“It’s a problem,” Beis stated. “I’d like to remain optimistic, however choices concerning public transport, getting folks to their vacation spot on time, have but to be seen. Some discuss, however nothing concrete.”

The shortage of a brand new city boulevard for automobiles together with bus lanes and bike paths to serve western Pierrefonds as a hyperlink to the Kirkland station is a lacking possibility, Beis stated. He famous Montreal’s Plante administration had as soon as proposed it as a car-free zone, which he deemed unrealistic.

CDPQ Infra, in a press release despatched to the Montreal Gazette this week, stated it needs to maximise accessibility to all its REM stations by means of lively and public transportation, in addition to private automobiles. It stated it’s working with municipal officers and native companions to develop essentially the most acceptable parking supply for the West Island.

Bus strains, bike paths and park-and-ride spots within the West Island will all have to be utilized to assist be sure the REM is sustainable. Sadly, it’s not but clear that every part can be in place by the point the REM opens within the West Island, anticipated by late 2024.

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