{"id":108307,"date":"2026-06-29T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/108307\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T09:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:33:07","slug":"hanes-what-could-we-do-with-billions-for-public-transit-instead-of-high-speed-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/108307\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanes: What could we do with billions for public transit instead of high-speed rail?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon provoked derision recently for vowing to derail<\/a> the federal government\u2019s \u201cnation-building\u201d high-speed train project if he is elected premier and suggesting Ottawa should instead just hand over the money to fund other infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t justify to Quebecers that their money would be invested in a colossal project that, according to studies, would have little impact on road traffic and strongly risks becoming an enormous financial fiasco,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon said of Alto\u2019s plan to build a high-speed rail line connecting Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, with a stop in Laval and a route that is raising ire among farmers in Mirabel, who are still bitter their land was expropriated for an airport in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s reasons for opposing the rail line are predictable. Basically, he doesn\u2019t want it to strengthen Quebec\u2019s ties to the rest of Canada because all he wants is sovereignty.<\/p>\n

And his demands are unrealistic. The federal government isn\u2019t just going to cut Quebec (or any province) a blank cheque from the $60 billion to $90 billion estimated cost of the high-speed rail line to spend how it pleases.<\/p>\n

But motives and unlikelihood aside, the PQ leader may have a point.<\/p>\n

What if instead of spending all that money on intercity transportation, the federal government invested in expanding public transit within regions? Perhaps that suggestion isn\u2019t any more practical than St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s pipe dream, but it\u2019s worth examining more closely anyway.<\/p>\n

Alto forecasts 24 million passengers<\/a> will use the high-speed train each year by 2055. That seems generous because 18 million people live in the corridor now and 24 million could by 2041.<\/p>\n

Given travellers already have other options \u2014 including Via Rail, slow though it may be in comparison; flying, either out of Trudeau or the Metropolitan Airport in St-Hubert<\/a>, even if that\u2019s carbon-intensive; or driving, if they can stomach the traffic \u2014 how many times a year are most people going to hop the fast train to another city? There will surely be some frequent voyagers, but for most people it\u2019s probably going to be once or twice a year\u00a0\u2014 at best.<\/p>\n

Public transit already serves far more people in the metropolitan area of more than four million residents every single day, and it has the potential to reach many more.<\/p>\n

The ridership of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de transport de Montr\u00e9al is about 1.7 million each day, with 1.1 million passengers using the m\u00e9tro on an average weekday.<\/p>\n

Even before the new Anse-\u00e0-l\u2019Orme branch of the REM<\/a> opened last month, the light-rail network was serving an average of 78,000 riders a day between Brossard and Deux-Montagnes. It also hit a record high of 104,000 daily passengers<\/a> during the Montreal Canadiens\u2019 playoff run.<\/p>\n

More than seven million passengers rode Exo commuter trains<\/a> in 2024, while 16 million used the agency\u2019s buses in suburbs from Terrebonne to Ste-Julie (though the REM may cut into those numbers).<\/p>\n

And yet, road congestion is still hellish because too many people don\u2019t have access to transit or can\u2019t get where they want to go in a reasonable time. The schedules or routes can be limited, and there are still many deserts in the city as well as suburban communities that are vastly underserved. <\/p>\n

With so much need and untapped possibility, investing heavily in public transit would get more people on board, more often. It could provide a greater return on investment, and be even more transformative for commuters, the economy and the climate than a high-speed intercity train.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dare to imagine what up to $90 billion in funding for new public transit might do in Greater Montreal.<\/p>\n

A new tramway from the east end to downtown is under discussion and badly needed. Teenagers in the borough of Rivi\u00e8re-des-Prairies\u2014Pointe-aux-Trembles recently told a consultation<\/a> it is easier to drive to Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Trois-Rivi\u00e8res than to get to Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al. It\u2019s a similar slog from Montreal North.<\/p>\n

Lachine and LaSalle are also cut off \u2014 but more desperate. A tramway to Lachine was quietly dropped<\/a> from the Quebec government\u2019s infrastructure plans, even though 20 per cent of Montrealers live in the zone<\/a> and the population is only set to grow.<\/p>\n

Laval Mayor St\u00e9phane Boyer is already seeking a commitment from the Quebec government to put the boring machine now digging the tunnel for the Blue Line extension to use extending the Orange Line<\/a> to his city.<\/p>\n

There have been calls for years to continue the Orange Line from C\u00f4te-Vertu to Laval, to take some pressure off the Montmorency branch. It should be expanded to Bois-Franc to connect with the REM at a bare minimum. But developers are eager to build and densify along a new m\u00e9tro corridor within Laval.<\/p>\n

Reliability problems with the REM last winter aside, it\u2019s a game changer for many Montrealers. So why stop there? Why not push it farther to the fast-growing Vaudreuil-Soulanges region in the west or beyond Brossard to other South Shore communities?<\/p>\n

There have been calls for years to extend the Yellow Line of the m\u00e9tro<\/a> into Longueuil. More recently, there\u2019s been a push for a tramway on Taschereau Blvd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And, hey, what about former Montreal mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante\u2019s signature Pink Line<\/a>? It would cut a diagonal across the city from Montreal North to Lachine. It\u2019s still a worthy proposal, even if Plante\u2019s gone from office.<\/p>\n

There are things that would be nice to have. High-speed rail is certainly one of them. But there are other initiatives that are needed and useful.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tI started at The Montreal Gazette in 2000 as an intern. Since then I have covered the National Assembly and courts, worked on the assignment desk and written editorials, before debuting as city columnist in 2017.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tahanes@postmedia.com
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