Despite promises, wheelchair users say REM isn't accessible enough

Despite promises of a fully accessible REM, people with mobility issues say they're still having difficulty using the new transit system.

The light rail system advertises a wheelchair-accessible connection between its Gare Centrale station and the metro, for example. But while able-bodied people can walk from Gare Centrale to Bonaventure fully underground in less than five minutes, wheelchair users must take a longer alternate route.

First, you go outside through a busy parking lot and across De La Gauchetiere Street. Then, to the elevator on the other side of the street, which takes you down to the bus terminal. Go across the platform, and there's... another elevator. Finally, you've made it to Bonaventure station.

The whole trip takes around 10 minutes, and advocates say the elevators frequently break down.

"The REM was sold to us as the eighth wonder of the world as far as accessibility. That's what we were told," said Steven Laperriere, general manager of RAPLIQ, a group that promotes accessibility in Quebec.

He said that so far, the REM doesn't have a good track record.

According to the REM's own social media, there have been around 30 elevator failures in the two-and-a-half months since the system opened.

"When you're a person using a wheelchair as a mobility device, you have no option, there's no Plan B," said Laperriere.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says the regional transit authority is working on a permanent solution for accessibility at Gare Centrale.

"We have addressed that to the ARTM, just let me assure you, because that's highly problematic," she told reporters.

"I expect that this will be solved. There will be a solution as soon as possible because we want everybody to have access to public transit."

In a statement, the ARTM said that "a universally accessible link that is completely indoors represents a major technical challenge. However, a solution imported from Spain has been identified following the rejection of nearly a dozen solutions studied."

But Lapierre says this is nothing new. RAPLIQ is currently battling Montreal and the city transit authority, the STM, in court over metro accessibility.

"While we're talking and arguing and going to court and doing political pressures and what have you, our people, our disabled friends, are still facing the same challenges on a daily basis. Some things get better, but not fast enough."