Save five minutes, take the bus

This is good news for users of Société de Transport de Laval (STL) busses that travel along these routes to bring commuters to the metro stations. The arrival of the metro turned these former fairly placid roads into central access ways to Montreal for motorists who leave their cars in lots at Montmorency, Concorde, and Cartier stations and riders who depend on busses to get them to the trains.

Riders will benefit with the pick-up of four to five minutes in travel time, a precious commodity at morning and afternoon rush-hours, says Jean-Jacques Beldié, chairman of the STL.

“These time-savers will cut down operational costs for the STL, with about $150,000 made available for reinvestment in improved service,” Mr. Beldié stated at the inauguration of these new reserved lanes. The announcement was made at the Concorde intermodal metro station, with Laval-des-Rapides MNA Alain Paquet, Metropolitan Transportation Agency (AMT) president and director-general Joel Gauthier and Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt in attendance.

“This is the biggest investment of an environmental nature since the introduction of recycled water,” pointed out mayor Vaillancourt. “Sustainable development can no longer be considered without also giving thought to massive investments in public transit.”

The new reserved lanes, set up in conjunction with repair work on Notre Dame Blvd.. cost $3,490,000 million, shared by Quebec ($1,980,000), Laval ($850,000) and the AMT ($660,000), with the latter assuming responsibility for the implementation of the project.

The roadwork, which started in July, slightly modified the landscape of Notre Dame Boulevard between Labelle Boulevard and Place Alton Goldbloom, in Chomedey. Reserved lanes have also been installed on Concorde Boulevard, between de l’Avenir Boulevard and Roanne Street at one end, and the intermodal Concorde Station at the other.

The new reserved lanes cover a 2.3 km distance along one of Laval’s major corridors of public transit. STL busses flow into the Notre-Dame/de la Concorde axis from nine routes, bringing 12,500 passengers to their destinations.

In morning rush hour, nearly 2,000 people travel each of these two routes per hour, about the same number as that of an autoroute lane.

As well, motorists must give way to busses at both rush hour periods, along the north side of Concorde Boulevard between Roanne Street and Ampere Avenue.