RE: Québec city tram 1.5G$-MAYOR SAID YESThanks Naissance. for those of us who have difficulty with french here's a rough translation:
After having long resisted the mayor Régis Labeaume takes up the case for the establishment of a tramway in Quebec: a tram which has justified the cost by using it as a development tool for the city.
From the outset, the mayor cited the Statistical Institute of Quebec, which expects 51,000 new households to settle in Quebec and in its immediate periphery, 2030. The Institute also provides that the Metropolitan Community of Quebec will count 71,000 cars in over 20 years.
To avoid urban sprawl and encourage the development of non-occupied Quebec City, Mayor Labeaume therefore endorses the recommendations of a working group on sustainable mobility, which proposes to enhance the efficiency of transit, including , by implementing a tram. Objective: reduce 71-58% share of the automobile in traveling to Quebec.
The tram network would be built first by a major axis extending from the South Shore area Estimauville in Beauport, through the Saint-Roch, the campus of Laval University and the business hub of Sainte-Foy. In this main axis, would be added perpendicular, which would link the Hill in Charlesbourg. In all, nearly 30 km of journey, with an estimated cost of $ 1.5 billion.
To justify this bill, the Mayor Labeaume account the fact that the tram will help develop the potential of a variety of spaces currently vacant in the territory of Quebec and to install 22,600 units and 2,000,000 m2 space for offices and shops and hotels. So many ways to generate additional revenue of $ 145.5 million in property taxes for the City.
And then, last argument in favor of the project, the mayor believes that without Labeaume tram, the city of Quebec can hardly get ... Winter Olympic Games which she began to dream.
How Mayor Labeaume account it finance its light rail project? All options are possible, he said, involving both the private and the public.
Other measures
The implementation of a tram is accompanied by a series of other measures to improve transit service in the most underserved districts. We realized, in fact, that 60% of trips in the network of Quebec, took place within the same district.
Favorably
The project of the City of Quebec was generally well received by those who attended the presentation of the Mayor Labeaume, starting with the Mayor of Lévis, Danielle Roy-Marinelli, who is trying to improve its own services transit .
Even satisfaction with the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, who notes that some measures included in the Plan for sustainable mobility will respond to comments and requests made by its members.
Finally, a spokesman for Bombardier, which manufactures streetcars, says they expect invitations to tender, specifying that the city's cost estimates are realistic and that the company is poised to become a project partner.