Alleviating traffic congestion in Montreal's Champlain Bridge corridor: Commuter rail or express bus? (Quebec)

Car dependency has resulted in traffic congestion in the Champlain Bridge corridor between the South Shore and Montreal CBD. This thesis addresses the ongoing debate of whether an inflexible rail or more flexible express bus system is better suited for travel in the corridor. An exploratory analysis of commuters revealed dispersed work destinations, suburb-to-suburb commuting, and public transit constraints for car users, providing evidence that rail would not be an effective solution. Factors known to affect mode choice such as access walking time, cost, and number of transfers were quantified in a discrete choice model of mode choice by commuters in existing rail corridors in Montreal. The model was then applied to the Champlain Bridge corridor under the assumption of hypothetical rail implementation. The projected demand for rail was lower than current express bus use in the corridor, suggesting that there would be no justification in incurring the great expense of building a rail system to replace the current express bus system. Improvement of the established bus system would have greater potential to reduce car trips.