STM : Tramway

[loulou123]

Le retour du tramway à Montréal est une idée qui tient à coeur au chef du parti Projet Montréal.
Richard Bergeron a dévoilé hier les grandes lignes de son projet de tramway.

Selon lui, le tramway pourrait redorer l'image de la métropole tout en lui donnant un atout écologique.

Dans un premier temps, le tramway couvrirait 25 kilomètres et serait implanté dans le centre-ville, au coût d'un milliard de dollars.

M. Bergeron assure que cette somme est justifiée et comparable au coût du métro, construit dans les années 1960.

Au total, le réseau couvrirait 250 kilomètres et coûterait après 20 ans, 10 milliards de dollars.

Richard Bergeron a tenu à présenter son projet avant le dépôt du plan de transport par le maire Gérald Tremblay.

[cprail]

Cet aménagement est nécessaire de toute façons, le remplacement des infrastructures et le réaménagement de ces rues (Côte-des-Neiges comme Parc) étant inévitable. Si la chose est bien planifiée, la construction de tramway ne devrait pas entraîner significativement plus d'inconvénients que la reconstruction normale des rues.

[WestAust]

Si la chose est bien planifiée

travaux de voirie bien planifiés et montréal ne semblent pas faire bon ménage!

Avec tout les exemple que l'on as de rues fraichement refaites qui 6 mois 1 an après sont charcutée pour faire d'autre travaux (St-Laurent, QIM) il faut croire que l'organisation dans cette ville est qqc de trop compliqué des fois

[GDS]

Mayor Tremblay's tram dream just doesn't add up
But the mayor can send the bill to Charest, who'll send it to our children
HENRY AUBIN, The Gazette
Published: Saturday, August 22

Let's play Montreal's great spectator sport. It's called Watch the Costs Spiral.

The keystone of Mayor Gérald Tremblay's transport vision is the tramway. His transport plan last year estimated the cost of building each kilometre of a tram line at $50 million (including rolling stock). Last week, however, a consultant's study commissioned by the city jacked the sum to $60 million.

I can see you shrugging. Hey, you're a jaded Montrealer, I understand. You saw the cost of the Laval métro extension soar to three times the original estimate. Next to that, this 20-per-cent increase in the tram's cost is ho-hum.

But bear two things in mind. First, work hasn't even started yet. And, second, the tram study says its own $60-million-per-kilometre estimate needs to be taken "with prudence." That's because the estimate omits certain extras. The tram's envisaged route, for example, would include going up Côte des Neiges Rd.'s steep grade. The study suggests this might require a tunnel through Mount Royal at about the level of the Montreal General Hospital. It doesn't say what that would cost.

Other supplements would include a new maintenance centre devoted entirely to trams, heated stations for riders, extra-costly rolling stock to climb Côte des Neiges and - watch this one - local companies' "lack of expertise" in regard to trams. Another possibly juicy supplement is what the study refers to only as "professional services." Proponents say trams are a bargain relative to the métro, whose tunnels cost about $150 million per kilometre. But when you factor in all these extras, trams might not be so cheap after all.

You might suppose from what I've told you that this is a hard-hitting report. It's not. It's a puff report. This alarming stuff about hidden costs is buried in its bowels.

The report is by Genivar-Systra, a consortium of engineering companies that design and build major rail projects around the world. Its report at times seems less like analysis of the cost-effectiveness of trams in Montreal than a PR document touting trams' "attractive" features (not that the client, Tremblay, needs any convincing).

The report says it could cost as much as $750 million to build 16 kilometres of tracks connecting Côte des Neiges, downtown, and Old Montreal. It says the total number of riders (up to 80,000 a day) would justify the cost. However, the report does not convincingly estimate how many of these riders would be new - that is, people who do not already use the bus or métro. The test of a sound investment is its ability to increase ridership.

Nor has Tremblay mandated the consultants to make a cost-benefit comparison between the tram and the trolley bus. Both are electrically powered and thus ideal for fighting climate change. Though the trolley bus is not quite as comfortable as the tram, it 's about as fast and, unlike the tram, can move around obstacles.

Most important is the price advantage of the trolley bus's infrastructure. Putting up overhead wires costs about $1 million per kilometre. The cost of running the tram, however, is slightly less. It would be useful to see if the tram's long-term savings on operations would make up for its higher construction costs.

But Tremblay has his mind made up. He doesn't want to know. Nor does Richard Bergeron of Projet Montréal, an even greater tram-fan. Note, however, that Vision Montréal's Louise Harel does want a comparison study.

So, you ask, why is the mayor so keen on the tram? Partly it's because it's a classier vehicle than the trolley bus.

But it has to be mostly because of the money. The province would pay 100 per cent of the cost of the tram's infrastructure (including rolling stock). However, the province pays only 50 per cent of the cost of regular gas buses - and presumably it would pay the same for the electrified variety. So trams are virtually a freebie for Tremblay. Montreal could send the bill to the Charest government, which in turn would send it on to future generations.

The Montreal Economic Institute estimates the net provincial debt per capita in the rest of Canada at about $8,000. In Quebec it's $14,000, and climbing.

If you get tired of playing Watch the Costs Spiral, try that other pastime, Watch Us Dig a Deeper Hole.

[BruB]

Si un jour, un le tram fait un retour à Montréal, Il se doit de ressembler à quelque chose comme ça.

En visionnant le site web pour le Mondial de la Bière de Strasbourg, une importation entièrement Montréalaise. Je suis tombé sur ces photos. Elles m'ont convaincu qu'un tramway peut-être beau et élégant.

[ChrisDVD]

j

[Malek]

Complètement inutile... c'est juste un gadget ce gazon (comme le tramway lol)

[Malcolmeyeal]

De quoi tu parle un gadget? Un peut de verdure en ville ça ne fait jamais de tord! Entre remplacé du bitume ou du béton fisselé pis poser de la tourbe je pense qu'en terme de temps le gazon l'empotre haut la main!

[Malek]

C'est quoi son utilité à part une cout de maintenance plus élevé?? Si, un grand SI, le tramway deviens une réalité à Montréal, il va passer dans le traffic vu les petits rues et le manque de vision des décideurs d'antan (d'avoir des petites rues).

T'apelle un espace vert une bande de gazon, t'enverrais tes enfants jouer là dans??

[Malek]

C'est drôle

même avec le tramway, il y a quand même 2 voies de circulations + 1 pour le stationnement par direction, et on est en Europe.

Ici, ça sera impossible d'avoir ça ailleurs que sur René-Lévesque. Toutes les autres rues dans les quartiers centraux sont beaucoup trop étroites.

[BruB]

Voici l'annonce du look des nouveau tramway de la TTC à Toronto.