The 105 bus route, which runs from Vendome metro to the western extremity of Sherbrooke, got a major service boost this January. It already passed at 5-minute intervalls during rush hour, and these days it’s not unusual to see two buses loading up with passengers simultaneously at rush hour (the lineup is at least twice as long as seen in this photo and on very busy days I’ve seen it curl about like a human Sprial Jetty).
Perhaps it’s time for articulated buses? The STM tested some out last summer and, assuming Montrealers had no major issues with them, they’ll be in service this fall. Or perhaps Sherbrooke West be a good candidate for a tram? The urban form is perfect as NDG was built as a medium-density streetcar suburb in 1900-1910. These days Sherbrooke West is bustling with a diversity of shops and restaurants, but feels a little too wide for an intimate neighbourhood mainstreet.
Just putting the idea out there.
17 comments
La 105 est justement une des lignes destinées à recevoir les éventuels autobus articulés.
Une autre ligne qui devrait les recevoir est la 51, qui, elle aussi part du même terminus Elmhurst. Mais cette dernìère fait face à l’obstacle de la ville de Hampstead qui, semble t’il, a exigé qu’aucun de ces autobus ne passe sur son territoire.
En fin de semaine dernière, j’ai voulu prendre la 51 au coin de Queen-Mary et Earncliffe, mais ai vu que le service était détourné par Côte-St-Luc et Décarie.
Est-ce un prélude à un changement de trajet pour la 51???
105 should be a tramline candidate (as should the 80, and several other saturated bus lines). An articulated bus could be a good stopgap measure (it can be re-assigned to another line once the tramline gets built. It is sad looking at former tramlines, and seeing poorer public transport 60 years later.
I have a somewhat tangential question – was there a tram along Christophe-Colomb? Perhaps that is why that street is so wide in Petite-Patrie/Villeray.
Hampstead’s antisocial behaviour is a good argument against the demergers of on-island suburbs (also note their stop signs at every corner of Fleet St – I’m all for traffic-calming, but this is ridiculous, the buses take forever).
I remember a lot more 51 buses when I began attending Université de Montréal, before the blue line was built.
alanah, your posts are so interesting. they have just the right amount of sparkle, with just the right amount of information. i like learning things via you!
I’m pretty sure Christophe-Colomb did have a tramline at one time. The bus service there now is terrible though. Once every half hour on weekdays at heure de pointe is ridiculous. It’s completely useless most of the time. I occasionally take it from Rosemont station on really cold days as it pretty much drops me off at my door but usually, since it only comes every 30 minutes, it’s not worth my time to sit at Rosemont for 25 minutes waiting for the bus!
the change of route I believe occurs after snowstorms and is not a permanent change.
Fleet no longer has all stop signs. Every stop sign from cavendish until Queen mary has been removed and replaced with synchronized light. There was a plan to continue this all the way to Decarie, but i’m not sure if its being followed through.
The 105, the 80 and a few other high-ridership bus lines need larger vehicles and more reliable service, and shouldn’t have to wait for a big-ticket tramway. Signal preemption, a more permanently segregated right-of-way, articulated buses, or better control/dispatching could also increase capacity, and do it a lot more quickly. Whether that’s an interim step to a tramway or more dedicated BRT system is another question, but there’s lots of little incremental things that could be done to open up some capacity and make life easier for riders in the short term.
Christophe-Colomb is quite wide, even on older segments approaching the back river that never had tram lines on them. My guess is that the width of the street was some kind of prestige issue, perhaps a halfhearted attempt to create an impressive residential boulevard.
…here’s the 1945 tramway map, which shows the #35 on Christophe-Columbe from Rosemont to past Jean-Talon: http://emdx.org/rail/MTC1941/MontrealTramwaysCompany-1941.gif
I prefer to put a Metro station or two along Sherbrooke in NDG.
The following 1948 map from the same site mentioned in the above post is valuable in that it shows ALL trackage, including non-revenue track used to route cars to car barns and to divert cars from regular routes in the event of a large fire with hoses on the track or major construction.
http://emdx.org/rail/MTC1941/TopologieReseauMTC-1948_Lavallee-Clegg.gif
At one time Montreal Tramways operated two articulated streetcars, known as the ‘Duplex Cars’ which we rode on Wellington several times.
Being uncommon, the public was not familiar with their operation and they never realized their full potential.
The cars ‘flexed’ over a 4-wheel unpowered truck.
Montreal also operated tramway ‘trains’ which were two 8-wheel streetcars coupled together like a ‘train’ which had a Motorman and Conductor in the front car, and a Conductor only in the rear car, saving the wage of a second Motorman to move two cars.
TTC in Toronto presently operates regular and articulated streetcars.
The stop signs on Fleet alluded to above had their predecessors on Isabella/Ellerdale West from Decarie thru to Fielding at Cote St Luc in the 1950s.
Until 1957 or so, Fielding ended at Hampton on it’s East end!!!!
Once it was pushed East that one block thru to Cote St Luc, Fielding became a new East/West way to easily get from Decarie to NDG, and traffic got even heavier thru Hampstead-the-backwater wannabe.
Before the Laurentian Autoroute was completed, on what is now 117 South, traffic could be backed up from around Boulevard Notre Dame in Chomedy almost all the way thru Cartierville to Queen Mary on old Decarie.
The traffic circle at Continental Can at Cote De Liesse and Decarie was deadly, the 17 Cartierville streetcar had to wend it’s way thru, too.
Queen Mary at Decarie was always jammed with traffic, one of the reasons the Tramways moved their Terminus to Garland from Snowdon Jct c. 1949.
Motorists coming South from the Laurentians on a Sunday evening would bail off Decarie at the first opportunity rather than face the jam South of Van Horne.
So, Isabella it was to go West to NDG via the new Fielding Connector at Hampton, and up came the stop signs.
In 1964 or so Fleet was pushed thru to Cavendish, as that underpass beneath the CPR had just been completed.
Ergo, MORE stop signs on Fleet.
More access = more traffic for the residents.
One way to slow the flow is stop signs.
At one time Hampstead had their very own Autobus Route using these even-quaint-at-the-time 200-series busses.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/230.htm
Montréal était un pionnier dans le domaine des tramways; c’est à Montréal qu’on a inventé le concept de «payer en entrant». Avant, le conducteur passait dans l’année pour ramasser les billets ce qui causait souvent des erreurs.
C’est à Montréal qu’on a eu les premiers tramways tout en acier, aussi. Puis les premiers articulés, c’était ici aussi. Sans compter les tramways touristiques les «p’tit chars en or»…
Et c’est dans un tramway sur la rue Ste-Catherine, pris toute la nuit dans une tempête de neige, où un jeune professeur de français rencontra La Poune et se lia d’amitié avec elle. 40 ans plus tard, ce jeune professeur devînt le président le la France: c’était Valery Giscard d’Estaing…
Montreal had very progressive methods in the streetcar era.
They DID introduce PAYE ( Pay As You Enter )operation for fare collection on streetcars, where in the passenger deposited his fare as he boarded.
Previously, the Conductor had to follow the passengers into the car and collect the fares within, depending on his memory and the honesty of the passengers if car crowded.
Most Montreal streetcars, in later years, were painted Green/Creme or Creme/Red, the Green cars were operated by two men, a Motorman at the front, and the Conductor at the rear.
Patrons observing a Green car approaching would intuitively move to the rear of the car to board.
A Creme car had only a Motorman at the front, who was paid more for working alone, and he collected the fares in the fare box or inspected transfers, sold tickets of many sorts, ( School/Ecole, Adulte, etc.) made change, answered questions such as “Does the Ste Catherine Car go on Ste Catherine?” and issued transfers.
Motormen and Autobus chauffeurs were BUSY before exact fares!
As mentioned above, Montreal did originate an all-steel streetcar way back when, but, they were held in disfavour as they were heavy, using more electricity, and wore out the track quicker.
Not mentioned was, no doubt, they must have worn out brake shoes at a rate, too.
Coming DOWN Cote de Neiges on a streetcar was a thrill for the Motorman, and it was not called hill of snow for nothing in the winter.
In winter, Employees were deployed on hilly routes to apply salt to the rails and look after the track switches.
Going UP Cote de Neiges was interesting if the car was full of standees.
Above the Motorman’s position on some cars was a Circuit Breaker with a reset handle that controlled the electric current from the trolley pole on the wire to the controller, resistances and motors.
Under heavy Amps the circuit breaker would ‘blow’ with a bright flash and a BANG! The car would stop, then roll back, and the Motorman had to be right on the Air brake to catch the car before it crushed a tailgating Diamond Taxi who was already on his horn.
The Motorman had to shut his controller, relatch the circuit breaker with the handle, observe traffic ahead and see if the once green light was now red, judge when to open the controller while gently releasing the air.
If the rails were wet, or lots of snow, the wheels would slip and he had to apply sand thru hoses to the front of the wheels from bins under the seats.
Some cars had little plows which hinged down in front of the wheels to plow snow, which would clatter along if they fell when not snowing.
If he played it right the car would move forward just in time to follow the autos ahead or get the green light.
If not, the circuit breaker would go again, with another bang and flash, etc.
Being a Motorman was not an easy job on a busy route with hills.
In the sixties MTC still had a fleet of Gasoline Autobusses in the 1001/1100 series which had Manual Shift with a clutch.
These busses were scary on hills, as they always reeked of gasoline and were getting very tired.
On the Atwater Hill on the Verdun Route the drivers would have to hold the loaded bus on the air brake, slip the clutch, which chattered and shook the whole coach if not adjusted, to get started.
If he let out the clutch too fast the engine would stall and the bus would roll back.
The he might ‘flood’ the engine, gas fumes would rise all around, the engine would sulk and not start.
Taxis blowing their horns behind.
The driver really needed three feet, one for the brake, one to slip the clutch and one to feed the gas.
The engine, if it restarted okay, would roar and backfire, with popping beneath the floor, the engine being a pancake version with horizontal cylinders ahead of the rear wheels.
‘Please do not go on fire’ was on everyone’s mind, as gas fumes surrounded the coach on a hot summer’s day.
Had to love the Verdun bus on the Atwater hill at rush hour.
A Gasoline Autobus No 1001.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/1001.htm
Certain Autobusses which left the garages before dawn in the winter for first runs or School/Ecolier service were fitted with tire chains and one class of autobus had SANDERS ahead of the rear wheels.
Fire Trucks were fitted with chains most of the winter.
When you awoke in the morning you knew it had snowed, as you could hear the busses and their chains.
Another story that has grown too long.
I’ve already talked with STM and there will be no articulated buses for the 105. The lines may curl to ridiculous proportions, but the frequency of buses often makes up for a lack of accommodation.
However, this does not make up for a general lack of thorough public transit in NDG and for much of NW Montreal. The Gazette recently listed all the high-traffic bus routes in the city that were “potential cadidates” for reform, which I guess implied for inreased frequency or larger buses. I think this was a rouse, and that things will stay the same for quite some time. They will be conducting further research on the area which is just a defense. They are warding off complaints and delaying necessary improvements.
Cdnlococo…please post more long stories…I loved your post!
I agree, Cdnlococo for prime minister!
Practically, I prefer frequent buses to big ones, although this solution is obviously more expensive. Less waiting in the cold between buses, less pushing to the back of the bus, and probably less chance for accidents.
On the plus side, an overwhelming number of people are making their preference for transit clearly felt. And the STM has responded with increased service, at least during rush hour. Sure there is way more that could be done, but I don’t think its fair to call the improvements we’ve seen so far a “rouse”
As a former Montrealer now resident in Ottawa, my one piece of advice is to avoid the articulated buses. We have them here in Ottawa: they’re fine except on days when there is significant snowfall. Under those conditions they have tremendous problems, and ofter are unable to proceed. As inclement weather encourages more people to use transit, the problem snowballs (no pun intended).