----   Tramway ... where?

 

For any politician or STO bureaucrat thinking to build rapid transit anywhere but chemin d'Aylmer -- think again! 

Brigil is building 6,000 residences on 100 acres on ch d'Aylmer. Richcraft up to 8,000 residences at the Gatineau Golf Club off  ch d'Aylmer, EMD-Batimo, 160 residences at the intersection of Wilfred Lavigne and ch d'Aylmer & Principale, and scattered projects underway, or proposed, with over 500 units, and all within the immediate months and years ahead.

Until there is sufficient residential density along ch d'Aylmer or any other route being considered, the current bus system serves our community's needs very well.  A tramway needs dense populations to run economically. The best plan would be along Principale/ch d'Aylmer.

Everybody should remember that the City does not plan on investing the capital to construct a tramway.  It is expected that the Federal Government and the Government of Quebec will pay 100% of the costs. This is winning the lottery, if in fact these monies ever  arrive.  Plus, a $2.5 billion expenditure would soon thereafter require another $2.5 billion  for a 2nd phase, and then a 3rd phase.  Considering the size of ridership and population of the city, neither a first phase or second phase is "cost justified" until Gatineau's population at least doubles or even triples!

And, let me add, planning for a crossing at Deschênes, over to Mud Lake on the Ottawa side, is the best way to start an LRT system, and then continue up the Deschênes Corridor northward, eastward, and westward with a  appropriate number of parkades along the way.

The question that should be on the minds of the STO is how much do they estimate the additional taxes will be for each average city taxpayer.  A new LRT/ tramway is no free ride for the average taxpayer. No one seems to be addressing this fact, especially among our municipal politicians.

I can easily imagine a tariff on each municipal taxpayer 10 times the current component tax for the "transport" component. Who wants to pay this?  Maybe local politicians should think smarter? The city bureaucrats, too.

Malcolm Thorne  

Aylmer