South Shore mayors eye better transit

The mayors of the Longueuil agglomeration want to see an extension to the Montreal métro’s Yellow line, a tram line on Taschereau Blvd. and reserved lanes for public transit users within the next seven years, the five municipalities announced Monday.

Called Vision 2025 for Public Transit, their plan is focused on improving the service offered by the Réseau de transport de Longueuil in Brossard, Boucherville, St-Lambert, St-Bruno-de-Montarville and Longueuil, and making public transit more appealing to South Shore citizens.

“The car fleet in the agglomeration is growing three times as fast as the population, so elected municipal officials had to mobilize and develop a concerted plan that reflects citizens’ needs and, above all, will contribute significantly to urban development,” said St-Lambert Mayor Pierre Brodeur, who also acts as chair of the Réseau de transport de Longueuil.

The plan consists for four main projects:

extending the métro’s Yellow ■ line to the east of the agglomeration;

creating reserved lanes and ■ ensuring consistent public transit service toward the future Réseau électrique métropolitain stations;

creating a “high-frequency ■ tram line” running north-south on Taschereau Blvd. that will connect to future métro and REM stations;

creating multimodal reserved ■ lanes and incentive parking lots, and adding intelligent traffic lights to the streets within the agglomeration with the goal of making public transit more appealing to citizens.

With Quebec’s provincial election campaign kicking off Thursday, Longueuil Mayor Sylvie Parent called for candidates to actively support the vision.