Buses to Berlioz Street will be added

During this meeting, Mr. Trudel could not provide the exact number of additional vehicles but was able to confirm that these changes should take effect in about 10 days. So as not to risk deceiving some users of this service, Mr. Trudel added that it isn’t a question of ensuring the frequency that took precedence last June.

The evaluation of this matter was not yet complete during the meeting. Certain options were assessed at the Transit Authority such as the possibility of additional buses for the 168 route and the fact that they don’t go until the terminal point of the southern tip. If this option is chosen, the buses could resume the route going downtown when they get to the top of L'Île-des-Sœurs Boulevard, passing through Berlioz Street. If this is the case, users would have to wait longer than they did last spring for their bus, but will benefit from a shorter trajectory towards downtown.

Drivers of these additional buses will be able to park their vehicles around Place du Commerce while waiting to proceed to Berlioz Street at the scheduled time. Mr. Trudel was quick to point out that he is not aware of any complaint regarding possible congestion resulting from the buses parking at the entrance of the island.

But he also expressed his disagreement with the information published regarding the number of families that were affected by these changes which took effect on August 27. He confirmed that STM timesheets reveal that between one and eight people took the bus at Berlioz Street during rush hour in the morning last spring. Given that 27 trips were made during this period, the report should have indicated that less than 200 people were affected. If we took the average of five per trip, Me. Trudel estimates that the total should come to 135 affected users.

One thing is clear: users can expect shorter waiting periods during morning rush hour on Berlioz Street in the next few weeks.

Le Magazine will announce further details on the changes in its next issue.