A year after a week-long pilot project experimented with a water taxi ferrying people between Pointe-Aux-Trembles and the Old Port, the service is being brought back on a longer basis.
For six months, residents of Pointe-Aux-Trembles will have a mere 22-minute commute to the Old Port – a commute that can take at least an hour during rush hour.
Starting in mid-May and going until mid-October, the boat will run every 30 minutes during peak hours and every hour during the rest of the day.
Transport Minister Chantal Rouleau said there are other benefits as well.
“When you go to work in a ferry, it’s so relaxing,” she said. “Instead of being in the car on Notre Dame St.”
During the five-day pilot project almost 5,000 people used the water taxi. If this longer experiment goes well, Mayor Valerie Plante said she’d be open to expanding it.
“What I think we need to be open to is to consider throughout the different years do we want to expand, do we want to have different places to get on board?” she said.
With the city pouring money into improving public transportation, Plante said she’s looking for ways to finance all the work that’s needed.
“If we’re serious about climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, than this is the way to go,” she said. “We need to support better public transport and find financing for it.”
