Not all, but most commuters are quite pushy and inconsiderate. You need only commute to learn the ugly truth about commuters.
So, when the doors of the REM train open during rush hour at a stop along the very busy Deux Montagnes line, the shrimpy train will fill quickly. Then, when that same train arrives at the next stop and opens its doors, more of those waiting, pushy commuters I mentioned will try to cram themselves in. Then, when that same train arrives at the next stop and opens its doors...and so on.
Will rush hour REM trains on the Deux Montagnes line be precariously overcrowded? Bet on it. Can the rolling stock and infrastructure handle that – who knows?
Oh, sure, there’s another train 5 minutes later but during rush hour, with pushy commuters packing platforms, it will quickly and inevitably become a question of - Push. Pack. Repeat.
I get it. Greater train frequency should prevent a build-up of commuter volume on platforms but I’m one of the many people who has repeatedly lived rush hour on the Deux Montagnes line.
No self-respecting commuter galoot will wait another 5 minutes for the next shrimpy train to arrive when there’s people to push around and a perfectly good opportunity to get to their destination 5 minutes faster. Plus, who’s to say the next train coming in 5 minutes won’t be even more crowded?
It bothers me so much that these shrimpy trains are driverless. So many millions of things can go very wrong.
Tell me, are these shrimpy trains designed to jump over each other? No. So, when one shrimpy train breaks down, all the other, what - 10 or 15 shrimpy trains travelling at the same time on the line behind the breakdown - will be stopped in their tracks.
The South Shore line has had more than its share of hassles and headaches. Keep in mind the South Shore line has been having repeated breakdowns, power failures, glitches and delays with only four stops along 16 kilometres in service.
The Deux Montagnes line, with a historically mammoth ridership, will have six stops over a greater distance, although I’m not sure how it can have only six stops when there are so many more stops along the same stretch of track.
I’m puzzled that the REM considers the Deux Montagnes line six-stops only, with the last stop being Sunnybrooke. The train continues to Central station, passing through Bois Franc, du Ruisseau and the rest of the stops that the REM refers to as its Main Line.
Can commuters waiting at Montpellier, for example, get on the shrimpy train from Deux Montagnes or does it roll straight through? If they are able to climb aboard, the trains will be absolutely packed! If they cannot get on, can a commuter from Deux Montagnes get off?
Does the REM train from Deux Montagnes not stop at those stations? If a commuter from Deux Montagnes wants to get off at one of those stops, do they have to transfer to the Main Line at Bois-Franc?
Those stops – Bois-Franc, Du Ruisseau, Montpellier, Cote de Liesse, TMR, Canora, Edouard Montpetit and McGill - are all before Central Station.
Think a moment, the combined Deux Montagnes/Main Line will have even more stops than the train it replaced, with several thousand more people each day looking to ride the REM. That means more people will be driving to stations to board the shrimpy train, which brings me back to overloaded rolling stock and pushy, inconsiderate commuters.
All those cars driving to stations will mean parking issues and there’s not much free parking. REM developers want you to cough up to park. Don’t doubt parking will be insufficient and expensive.
This REM project, which unilaterally cannibalized the perfectly good infrastructure of the Deux Montagnes commuter train line, was supposed to be affordable. All parking ought to be free.
In 2016, ridership on the Deux Montagnes train line was estimated at 31,000 commuters per day. One estimate I saw put yearly ridership along the line at 7.5 million commuters. That was almost a decade ago! I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that estimated daily ridership today has more than doubled.
More stops over a greater distance than the South Shore section, and with all the towns and cities along the Deux Montagnes line swelling in population since the pandemic, and more companies reneging on hybrid work arrangements, ridership will be grotesquely high.
Curious, I rode the South Shore REM line shortly after it opened and, frankly, it worked well on that day. It was summer and not rush hour.
The utopic version would have REM trains working reliably, safely and affordably, while helping significantly reduce consistently horrid rush hour road traffic.
Cue hysterical laughter.
There was a REM employee aboard who explained to me how the trains don’t always line up precisely with the platform and, unless they line up precisely, doors will not open.
De-icing gravel in the door tracks was one of the many things that caused breakdowns on the South Shore line during winter months. Seriously? If REM trains have issues with de-icing gravel there’s no way they’ll handle all the other extreme conditions Montreal winters bring! So much for a weather-proof design.
One spokesperson for CDPQ, which manages the REM, is quoted as saying building and operating driverless trains has presented a rare set of challenges complicated by Quebec’s widely changing temperatures.
Duh.
They make it sound like they were caught off guard by Montreal weather. Did they not take Montreal weather into account? Did you not design and build the REM with Montreal weather in mind? Have you been outside?
How stupid do their comments about unpredictable weather sound?
I hope I never have to - or any of my significant others ever has to - get off a broken down REM train mid-line on a day when freezing rain has made everything treacherous and be forced to walk along elevated tracks to some bus.
These shrimpy REM trains should not be driverless. If anything goes wrong, commuters will be at the mercy of an un-invested squawk box.
The REM was supposed to be the modern, capable transit solution designed to take Greater Montreal commuters comfortably, safely and affordably into the future.
For the promise of that, people living near the tracks have been enduring years of hell as construction fumbled along.
This ill-conceived project was supposed to solve transit problems, not create them.
Pick a card, any card; the potential issues include - Safety. Reliability. Affordability. Accessibility.
Eventually, there are supposed to be 26 stations over 67 kilometres of often elevated tracks moving people safely all hours of the day through ice storms, snow storms, wind, rain, stifling heat and humidity, and minor earthquakes.
No drivers, mind you - just all those trusting people riding alone in an elevated mechanical can.
I shudder.
The REM's gonna hit the fan.
