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Good effort on part of Ellen for at least attempting to pronounce the station names right :) French isn’t exactly the easiest language when it comes to pronunciation especially for non native speakers / anglophones.
I think anglicizing it is fine. It sounds obnoxious to be honest, when you insert French pronunciation into an English sentence... and makes it hard to follow. I mean... do you say "'L'Université McGill" or "McGill University?" Eiffel Tower or "Tour d'eiffel" Some words can be pronounced in French, like perhaps proper names... but even names get transliterated. Few French speakers can get the English "r" correct, for example... as it's hard for many speakers. I realize this is an unpopular opinion in Quebec among some...
@@stephenspackman5573 Yes.. exactly! Transliteration is definitely more art than science... but language should primarily be a tool of communication, not weaponized. I don't see Japanese people correcting people's pronunciation of Mt. Fuji (you're probably pronouncing it incorrectly, btw) When speaking in French, it's perfectly acceptable to Francosize (is that a word?) English words. Personal names are, I suppose, a little different... but places named after people... fair game. 😄
There are a few more initiatives that could greatly improve transit in Montreal, some of which are to become reality very soon: 1. The BRT along Pie IX Boulevard - will provide much needed north-south rapid transit along the east end of the city. 2. Deploying the MPM-10 trains on all the lines - The MPM-10 trains currently run on the orange line and shares the green line with the old MR 73 trains. The MPM-10 has open gangways, better ventilation and faster acceleration that could enhance rider experience. 3. Proposed Pink Line - Plans for a new metro line from Montreal Nord, through the downtown all the way to Lachine can rapid transit to what are perhaps the last densely populated areas in Montreal without rapid transit. The Pink Line however remains only a proposal from the mayor, and formal planning hasn't begun yet.
Thank you Ben. So many possibilities for rapid transit expansion thanks to the REM. Cost, speed/efficiency, full automation, elevated alignments, platform screens. Sounds more and more like Vancouver Skytrain :)
Jonathan MTL It’s really amazing! Many years ago, it would have just been a pipe dream to expect this level of transit development in Montreal. Yet here we are, suddenly on the bleeding edge of rapid transit in North America. Makes me a very proud Montrealer! 😁
Noticed how the north shore in Vancouver and the south shore in Montreal, are so close from downtown, yet get so little in terms of line expansion and smart urban development. Damn you bodies of water!
Brilliant video, would love to visit Montreal at some point when a lot of this is complete! REM in particular looks incredible, and those Azurs have got to be some of the most interesting subway cars in North America.
omg i can't imagine trying to pronounce all the names when you're not from Montreal LOL. I've lived here my entire life and still can't pronounce 1 or 2 LOL.
Kelsey Comstock The proper pronunciation of the 64 stations of the Montreal metro has eluded the non native French speaker from its creation half a century ago. In this essay, I will…
But I still dream of the pink diagonal line... I’m still holding out. 💕 Montréal-Nord needs a LOT more service, it’s one of the densest neighbourhoods in Canada.
It should be noted that Montreal's commuter rail network is not rapid transit: it's basically only designed for commuters to get to work and back, and barely runs at all outside of those commuter times. It's basically useless for actually getting around the city if you're not trying to get to work. Some of the lines you might only get two or three trains per *day* on a weekend, while the rapid transit portions of the system (like the metro and soon the REM) have maximum intervals measured in minutes even on the slowest part of the weekend. This is why the REM is exciting, bringing actual rapid transit to the places it covers.
I really enjoy the videos you guys are putting out. I just discovered your channel a couple days ago and just wanted to say thanks from the bottom of my transit-nerd heart
I would love for you guys or Ben to make a DEMISTIFYED video for the Montreal Crosstown LRT. I know the project isn’t quite official but the regional transit agency and both provincial and municipal government seem really serious about it.
Many exciting projects, indeed. Thanks for sharing. I somehow expected you’d broach the pink line, but I suspect that line would be akin to the rapid transit line that is proposed between the Lachine and Pointe-aux-Trembles boroughs. At any rate, I hope most of these plans are implemented, for the Greater Montreal area is in dire need of more transit. (-:
Nice contribution Ben! I've been saying for about 10 years or so that there should be a tramway link to downtown from PAT running along the former Montreal Island Belt Line Railway/Montreal Terminal Railway Bout-de-l'île line (1896-1923) starting at 53è Avenue. I could easily see a stop at 32è Avenue along VIctoria, which is about a 2 minute walk from our house and there's plenty of room to build a station there. ;) The Montreal Tramways Co sold that piece of land to the CNR in 1923 then it moved it's tramway tracks on Notre-Dame until tramway service was replaced by buses in 1936. I hope I will be able to see this project come to realisation in my lifetime.
Agree with Reece. I think transit and fixed infrastructure may be one of the few areas where the government can directly intervene to stimulate economic recovery. I believe QC government has just announced fast tracking of $3 billion + worth of transit projects (more details to come).
@@RMTransit I know it is a good investment, but I do not have confidence in the government to act on that fact. I expect long delays at the least, if not cancellations.
Hi, super cool video explaining everything and all, Montreal will probably have the best Public transit system in Canada if all these things happen(which I hope, especially the rem extensions), but it is definetely not a World class system. 5 metro lines including the rem is just too little for a region of 4 million people there are areas, in dense neigborhoods, where you are two kilometers away from a metro, rem or commuter rail stop which is pretty far. But Montreal is one of the few North American Cities which has the potential to not only have a World Class transit system, but also walkable centers, so my hopes are high that Montreal will do it right
Loved this video. I’m moving from Toronto to MTL soon and am a lot more optimistic about the REM. I thought it was going to end up like the never ending eglinton construction.
Hey Farah, I'm also re-locating to Montreal from Toronto as well for June 1st, 2020, send me an email, it would be great to help each other out in a new city : michael.theprince99@gmail.com,
Montreal has an interestingly very French inspired transit network. Looks good, though without knowing more, plans to run transit along freeways sounds like a dumb idea to me, areas built around freeways tend to be very auto-oriented and it's also more difficult for transit to compete in an environment where taking a car on the freeway along the same route is so accessible, better to serve areas further away from freeways where it's also possible to build transit oriented developments. The freeways can be served by express busses with dedicated lanes.
Well there are a couple of things to consider: the highways being followed by the REM are quite busy and connect "higher density" suburbs. They are currently serviced by busses with reserved lanes. But the service is increasingly inadequate, mostly due to the busses getting stuck in traffic when they reach downtown and bringing too many busses to downtown terminals. There are infamous cases where busses were stuck in traffic for more than an hour without moving, in high heat and humidity, resulting in passengers fainting. It was such a miserable experience that I was thinking of switching to commuting by car, an otherwise much more stressful, polluting and expensive solution. Some corridors are so busy that there is a bus going through every few seconds during rush hour. There are only so many bridges available after all. It was clear that the network was used well above its capacity to grow. The REM is meant to drastically improve those issues and future proof the network for a growing population. The busses are basically meant to service smaller areas each, converging on different train stops for those commuting larger distances. Shorter trips mean that more busses could be switched to electric for cheaper as well.
Wow good stuff on the future of Montreal transit. I'm from Toronto and I'm FINALLY pleased that the Eglinton (which is now delayed to 2022) and the Finch LRT are being built at the same time. It just sucks the way transit is built in Ontario. Too much politics and not enough of actual engineering. What Toronto needs is something like REM.. and this can only happen IF and WHEN they extend the Eglinton LRT to the airport in the west and then all the way to UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus) in the east. Our current government doesn't even want to see any type of surface rail on the roads because he thinks it'll destroy the roads. Instead he wants the extention to the airport to be fully underground.. which will obviously be more expensive. To be quite honest, sometimes it feels like Toronto has no money or something. It's honestly embarrassing to say the least. Toronto can't claim to be a 'World class city' when our subway systems are dangerously at capacity during both rush hours and the government never wanting to fund for grand projects. It's clear that Montreal is doing something serious with their transit for future ridership growth. I just hope Toronto can see the same instead of ALWAYS delaying because of short sightedness.
MTL / QC has always been somewhat more receptive to public goods like mass transit and other civic projects. An inherited French trait I suppose, that is not often seen in more anglophone/North American cultures. Further I don’t get Toronto’s preoccupation with subway vs LRT. There’s got to be something in between that could satisfy both transit users and drivers .... oh idk like the Vancouver Skytrain or MTL REM??
@@guldukat2453 I believe the proposed Ontario Line is supposed to be a mix of underground/above ground/elevated guideway tracks and stations. Now, if only construction started.
@@guldukat2453 Because of the lack of information for the LRT's history, it's very easy to make that type of technology seem obsolete. We've had a subway culture in Toronto since the 50's and we've been use to it. What the Ford's did was try and brainwash ppl in Scarborough and parts of Toronto into thinking that LRT was a waste of technology and time. The sad thing is that it worked and now Scarborough is where it's at because of this confusion. We could've had a fully funded 7 stop LRT that would serve more ppl in Scarborough AND still terminate at Scarborough Town center. But ppl didn't understand or weren't informed properly about the project. What I just realized about the upcoming Ontario Line is that I think this line will be like Montreal's new REM. Meaning the type of train technology being used will not be the same as the current Subway's, it might be electrified, it will be automated, elevated and supposedly cheap and ready to go in 7 years? So we'll see how this goes.
Sure wish they had made some of these significant transit investments when they built Mirabel. Clearly there are many other factors at play, but it could have at least stood a fighting chance as a major gateway.
Great video, really informative for a new transplant to Montréal. Just wondering, what happened to the pink line? Too speculative to include in this video? Was it permanently shelved?
Alex Mainly mothballed by the current provincial government. Part of the line will (hopefully) exist as part of the crosstown tramway, as the western portion from Lachine partially follows the proposed route of the Pink Line.
RMTransit think I mentioned this in the comments in another video but CDPQi is seriously considering part of the original pink line plan for a REM B line. Details later this year.
I have this new idea once Via Rail gets to expanding their High-Capacity Corridor Service to between Montreal and Quebec City: a new Mount Royal Tunnel from Gare Centrale. This new tunnel would follow a new route, linking to the Saint-Jérôme line at Parc (it would also reroute it to Gare Centrale from Lucien L'Allier, and the Mascouche line would be rerouted to this new alignment on its way to Gare Centrale). This new tunnel would have a clearance height of around 6.1 meters (20 feet), so as to enable the use of higher-level rolling stock like Stadler KISS trains.
@@RMTransit Continuing where I left off, this new Mount Roytal Tunnel will be part of transforming Exo into an RER-style service as the trains will be through-running (this also will involve converting Gare Centrale to a Spanish Solution station). This, however, would render Lucien L'Allier no longer viable, but the approach tracks can be used for a new underground station beneath Gare Central for high speed trains (making that station kind of like Berlin Hauptbahnhof). Said HSR station will be part of a long north-south-spanning downtown tunnel, emerging north of Avenue Marien Changes for Exo * The Mascouche line will be rerouted from Mascouche to Repentigny. Instead, trains will continue north from Repentigny to Joliette, serving L'Assomption and Joliette. This line will be called Joliette line * A new Mascouche line will be built, branching off from the Saint-Jérôme line between De la Concorde and Vimont, serving Laval, Terrebonne and Mascouche. Also branching off from the Saint-Jérôme line is the Aéroport-Mirabel branch, wherein it connects with REM at Mirabel Airport. * A branch from the Vaudreuil-Hudson line going to Coteau * A new line going to Verchères (Verchères Line) * Extension of the Candiac line from Candiac to Iberville, restoring passenger service to that region that had last seen it decades ago. The Candiac line will be renamed the Iberville Line. ** A new branch line from Kahnawake west, going to Coteau (connecting with the Vaudreuil-Hudson's Coteau branch), with an additional branch between Cécile to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield * A new Candiac line serving Brosseau and La Prairie. Branchine off from Gaétan-Boucher is the Marieville branch, serving Chambly, Richelieu and Marieville, reactivating a disused rail line, and, unlike REM, it actually serves Chambly and not on the outskirts. * Extension of the Mont-Saint-Hilaire line to Saint-Hyacinthe. This line will be renamed to the Saint-Hyacinthe line. Four new lines will come from an Exo RER system: * Exo A: Combines the new Mascouche Line and the Vaudreuil-Hudson line and its Coteau Branch * Exo B: Combines the Joliette, Verchères and Saint-Hyacinthe lines. * Exo C: Combines the Saint-Jérôme line and the Iberville line and its branches * Exo D: Combines the Aéroport-Mirabel line and the new Cardiac line and its Marieville branch. Also, REM can extend the Deux-Montagnes line to Aéroport-Mirabel, giving it two airport links. sources: www.metrodemontreal.com/ideas/ctrain.html, www.mtlblog.com/news/these-are-all-the-stm-metro-upgrades-quebecs-political-parties-are-promising-if-elected
Montreal, and Quebec in general needs more infrastructure work/updates than anywhere i've seen in North America. It isn't hate. It's just true. I love the area and would like to see it improve significantly. It has so much potential.
There is also a possibility of adding a extension to the orange line so it does a loop. This is now more plausible since the construction of the côte-vertu metro garage is adding 1 km of track toward bois-franc & montmorency
Nice video. One item to nitpick though, when you were talking about the Blue Line, you showed Pie-IX station on the Green Line. ;) Keep up the good work though!
I grew up in Cote St Luc and I don't understand why the suburban mayor's of Cote St Luc , Hampstead and west end city councillors didn't build stations west of Snowdon. I guess they felt there wasn't enough riders or maybe it's a 80% Anglo area...
Be careful, the information told at 04:55 isn’t accurate. It is the Saint-Jérôme exo line that has the most metro connections, as it has 4 (Lucien-L’ Allier, Vendôme, Parc and de la Concorde) whereas the Vaudreuil-Hudson line only has 2 (Lucien-L’ Allier and Vendôme). Aside from that, great video!
They absolutely must connect the airport to Dorval station. It would be a boost to the airport making it more accessible to travelers from Eastern Ontario arriving on Via Rail.
I wonder if once the REM is open on the Wesxt Island, if the Vaudreuil EXO line will be discontinued, since it will be a bit redundant. Only off island people will need to use it.
I was wondering the same! That probably is an incentive for CDPQ Infra to consider Dorval extension. OTOH, those tracks are also used by VIA Rail and pose a problem for conversion.
Putting rapid transit service along existing highways is cheap, but it often falls short on urban design around stations. Much more important than the particular transit service is the urban planning that goes on around each station, and at the end of the day, nobody wants to live next to a freeway. In most cases, and in the case of Montreal, this area, at least outside the densest parts of the city are currently mainly commercial car dominated development. Even if the right zoning was implemented for redevelopment, it's not going to be a desireable area to live or work, based on noise and view alone. Which means the riders of the transit service will have to live outside of walking distance from the rapid transit, making most people require connections. Now, there are a few exceptions (closer to the city, development along the autoroute gets denser obviously) and I don't know what Montreal has planned for this corridor (do you guys have any idea?) maybe they have some ideas to overcome this, but generally I'm not super excited about transit lines along highways.
Montreal seems to be one of a very select few North American cities with transit ridership in the same class as European cities. Is there a reason for this other than the transit network itself? Is Montreal built more densely built and pedestrian oriented than other North American cities?
Montreal is a mixture of both. Central districts are dense, and thousands of people live in apartments, condos, and most importantly old brick tenements/duplexes/triplexes. Montreal is generally really pedestrian and bike-friendly (at least for a North American city). Suburbs, on the other hand, are typical, Canadian/American surroundings, with lots of expressways and single-family houses.
@@stp8614 This is interesting. It seems Montreal (Quebec in general perhaps?) has a heavier influence from France in terms of urban design. Sad to hear about the suburbs though.
@@dijikstra8 I don't know if it's french influence in urbanism. Some things are. Huge amounts of brutalist architecture or métro etc. Montréal might appear very european for someone from North America, but it's still a very N/A city for someone from Europe (like me). Regarding the suburbs, some of them are very pretty and green, with beautiful housing (for ex. Ville de Mont-Royal, Saint Lambert or Lorraine) The whole city is super green which is a huge advantage.
@@dijikstra8 Also, speaking french doesn't make this region more "european". French is as european as english or spanish are. Yes, Québec is proud and unique, but at the same time it's not that different from the rest of Canada or New England in terms of landscapes or urbanism. Québec City is definiely less transit friendly than Montréal, since it doesn't even have any sort of rail/tram network
@@stp8614 yes I understand that, I was simply trying to find a rationale for the anomaly, and cultural heritage seemed like a decent fit, but I didn't know that about Quebec City, is it a newer development than Montreal?
If I'm not wrong, the western side from Lachine to downtown is being planned as a streetcar system. The remainder of the line from downtown to Montreal Nord is likely to be a metro.
NOW U HAVE TO ANSWER. How many lines can 1 transfer be used??? I guess only 4 lines of subways like Toronto. If all lines can be transferred by $3? ticket, I'd consider moving to Montreal by learning French again hehe.
Same situation with New York City having two terminals Penn Station and Grand Central. The direct Gare Centrale 🇨🇦 Montreal to New York City Penn Station🇺🇸 train the Adirondack. my question is this will this work Electrify the Montreal to Albany main line up to Plattsburgh New York so that EXO Montreal commuter trains going to get commuters from upstate New York Clinton County. An example of this where commuter rail crosses an international border is the Swiss commuter rail networks of Basel and Geneva. Oddly REM could have retained 25kv 60hz because other high frequency metros in India use 25kv
Technically speaking, NY Penn is not a terminal, since it has through tracks, even though many trains do terminate there. We have two terminals here in Boston though (the creatively named North and South Stations).
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"??? The Montréal metro even with just the orange line and the green line alone makes more sense than the whole of Toronto transit system
Please for the love of God save at least six cars of the 1993 -1995 Bombardier MR-90 EMU I remember when they were featured in a grade school science book.
Great Video! unfortunately, things have evolvedf a lot in just one year, and it needs an update for the REM de l'est. I know you guys are transit nerds... but are bikes transit? In the netherlands there is this culture of riding your bike to the train station, and perhaps having another bike at the other end to use to get to work... nothing like that in North America... traditional transit often kind of ignores or discoiurages active transit... like in the REM, the stations in the west are along highways with really crappy pedestrian crossings, so there is no practical way to get there on foot from the other side of the highway. You are supposed to take the bus to get there. bike infrastructure is thought to conflict with rather than complement ordinary transit.
Cool video. Love our train system but dont ask quebecois people they will bitch about how its crap service. Crazy . I think its one of the best in the world
Il serait effectivement intéressant d’avoir une vidéo aussi détaillée en français. Cependant, si je ne m’abuse, les créateurs de cette chaîne ne parlent pas couramment français et ne résident ni à Montréal ni dans le reste du Québec. De plus, leur contenu ne traite pas principalement du transport au Québec. Ils ont tout simplement voulu consacrer l’une de leurs vidéos sur le transport à Montréal...
