Congestion in Montreal: Is Public Transit the Solution?

Can last weekend’s monster traffic jams in Montreal be avoided, or at least made less damaging by a greater emphasis on public transit?

• Read more: Top roadblocks in Montreal: Tough weekend for motorists

That’s what Samuel Page-Blouffe, director of public and government affairs at Vivre en Ville, believes.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve been wondering if public transport is still a good idea because transport companies are running out of traffic,” he explains. -He. I think we need to go back to those basic principles. Yes, adding alternatives will improve the situation.

He added that money invested in building new roads should be used to maintain existing roads.

“We continue to invest in building new highways and new roads in Quebec, and we already have a road system, compared to Ontario and other places, for example,” he continues. “The situation will not improve if we do not prioritize investing 100% of our resources in maintaining road infrastructure. .

The start of the weekend was once again problematic for many motorists interviewed by TVA Nouvelles due to blockages on major arteries.

“This morning was going well, but the return trip is taking me twice as long,” says one driver.

“It’s so complicated, overdone and there are so many holes in the floor, it’s really a disaster,” says one man.

“As we say here, it is poop, initializes another operator. It’s the same now, I’ve been here 14 years and it’s still shit.”

However, according to Gilles Payer, spokesman for the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ), the work should be done on weekends to avoid major traffic jams during the week.

Work should be done for that,” he said. We do them in the summer, on weekends and nights, because that’s when we have the time.”

“If we do this during the week and during the day, it creates more problems,” says the promoter. There are also festivals, fireworks and the Formula 1 Grand Prix that we try to avoid.

Watch the full report in the video above.