Projet Montréal questions city's new transit plan
New goals include increasing number of transit and bike riders
Montreal's official opposition is questioning whether the city's new transit plan will ever happen.
The 10-year plan includes a goal to increase transit and bike riders during morning rush hour — from 47 per cent to more than half.
However, critics say it'll take more than a report to change people's habits
The city says it is hoping to cut down on bumper-to-bumper traffic during peak hours.
But Projet Montréal is casting doubts on the plan's viability.
"Under the [Gérald] Tremblay administration, we saw a lot of nice words spoken, a lot of nice plans that haven't happened. So we want to make sure that if we're setting our sights high, we need to have a plan to get there," said Craig Sauvé, Projet Montréal's Transport Critic.
Sauvé says promises of a Train de L'Ouest and extension of the Metro's blue line are good starts if they happen.
"We have to be on the heels of the administration and make sure that the priorities are straight for public transit, and it doesn't become status quo as it always has been: Public transit if we can afford it. It has to be public transit is our number-one priority," he said.
A recent study released by the STM shows that more people are taking public transit.
At the same time, more people are also driving cars.
The study says factors like aging populations and spotty transit coverage make it harder to attract new riders.
Some west end commuters like Nadia Rusak say the system will need big changes before it will work.
"The nature of the job I do it doesn't work, because I start early and end very late, after the trains don't run anymore," she said.
A spokesperson for Coderre says the administration acknowledges the goal is ambitious, but insists it's realistic.