Instead of getting more transit when the rest of the REM finally enters service, Montrealers could end up with less.
Passengers in Greater Montreal will be waiting another year before they can hop aboard the rest of the REM, the light-rail network that is the only major new public transit project Quebec has constructed in at least a decade.
So commuters who have been waiting patiently for the REM may be frustrated. But those who take other public transit, in particular existing Exo lines, may be breathing a sigh of relief.
The irony is instead of getting more transit when the rest of the REM finally enters service, Montrealers could end up with less.
The REM’s remaining sections will arrive amid much financial uncertainty for transportation agencies. Because of a lingering pandemic hangover, shifting commuting habits and a long-running structural deficit, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, which plans and funds transit in Greater Montreal, faces escalating operational shortfalls. In 2025, that could reach as much as $500 million, but the Quebec government has agreed to cover only part of it.
The Société de transport de Montréal has already reduced the frequency of buses and said it might have to close the métro earlier at night unless the provincial government ponies up a more stable funding model. And as it seeks efficiencies to ensure continuity of service, the STM has had to postpone maintenance work.
Things could get even worse when the remaining REM service begins. It will gobble up already scarce revenues from the other transit agencies and compete for some riders. That’s not how it should work.
If the Vaudreuil-Hudson line were squeezed, it would cut off an entire region from fluid and efficient public transit. Having to drive or take a shuttle bus to the nearest REM station at Anse-à-l’Orme would make taking transit more onerous and less attractive. If people have to fight traffic anyway to cross the bridge, even when the new one opens, why not keep driving? And if they take a bus, it will lengthen travel times. Studies have shown up to 10 per cent of riders are lost with each modal transfer.
Given the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge is already under construction, it defies logic that space for the REM wasn’t included. Since it’s not, the Vaudreuil-Hudson train remains a lifeline for many off-island residents.
And what about passengers along the Mont-St-Hilaire and Candiac lines? Even though the first leg of the REM to the South Shore opened in the summer of 2023, it’s a vast region. Forcing these rail commuters to drive, take buses, or transfer to the REM in Brossard if their lines are slashed would just add to congestion, emissions and travel times.
Why invest $8.3 billion — the updated cost of the REM — if it’s not going to improve service and give people more options? The REM should be complementing existing train service, not cannibalizing it.
Transit is a public good that is essential to the health of Montreal’s economy, productivity, quality of life and environment. It’s the key to reducing Quebec’s largest and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change. We need more transit, not less.
The government of Premier François Legault has hemmed and hawed over various new projects, like a REM 2.0 to east-end Montreal and tramways to Lachine and in Quebec City. Yet it hasn’t managed to get any of them going.
But what’s the use in investing in major new infrastructure if the government is starving the service already in place?
These portions of the REM should be welcome additions to the public transit map of Greater Montreal when they open next fall, not expensive replacements.