MONTREAL -- Several mayors across the Greater Montreal area are calling for better public transit to reach their suburbs.
In an open letter, the mayors of Terrebonne, Repentigny, Varenne and Mascouche say there needs to be a way to reduce congestion outside the city centre.
This comes shortly after a report by the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM), using data compiled by the Observatoire Grand Montréal, found that urban sprawling has intensified in the city's outskirts in recent years.
“We have to find a new model that applies to what we believe,” explained Massimo Iezzoni, with the CMM. “Move people, less cars, more density, protection of farmlands and natural spaces.”
The report finds the number of people commuting from outside the Island of Montreal is increasing.
“If we want to minimize traffic, which is a huge problem everywhere in the metropolitan area, we cannot develop the territory like it’s the 1950s,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante. “There needs to be more density, more public transport options.”
About 100,000 commuters from municipalities bordering the Greater Montreal region head downtown to work every day – 94 per cent of which use their cars almost exclusively as their preferred mode of transportation.
On average, since 2015, Greater Montreal has lost about 7,000 people a year to its outlying municipalities – about 4,000 to cities located in the north and 3,000 to the south.
The Montreal Metropolitan Community brings together 82 municipalities with four million inhabitants.
-- with files from The Canadian Press.
