My Thoughts on SRB Pie-IX, and some other notes

 Hey pals! It's been quite a while since I wrote a blog post. I hadn't been particularly inspired, and I have been taking adventures less frequently due to it being winter. Fortunately, I have finally found a topic to talk about.

Recently, I returned from a short trip to Montreal. In the bit of downtime I had, I decided that I would try out the new SRB Pie-IX, also known as 439 Express Pie-IX. This bus rapid transit installation opened in November after many years of (highly-disruptive) construction, aiming to improve finally improve service on the Pie-IX corridor. Montreal had long experimented with different services along this stretch, including the 505 R-Bus, which was removed in 2002 after a number of pedestrian fatalities.

While I have a few concerns with the SRB, I think overall it is, and will continue to be, a huge success. In particular, when I compare it to York Region's VIVA Rapidways, the SRB is able to accomplish more transit-specific goals while being much simpler.

Additionally, I will throw in a few other comments towards the end that are not specific to SRB Pie-IX, but I want to note. 

What I Liked

While the stop outside Station Pie-IX is deemed 'temporary', it is easy to find and access when getting off the Metro. Some Metro stations, like du Collège or Côte-Vertu, have such extensive bus terminals that finding a particular route can be a challenge. Additionally, the local 139 Pie-IX stops at the same stop, so for someone travelling a short distance, they don't have to run for whichever bus shows up first.

The route is very frequent. Until 7pm on weekdays, service operates every 10 minutes or better, and it is every 15 minutes after 7pm. The last northbound trip from the station is at 1:42am, which is a good time to end. On weekends, service is every 10 minutes until around 6pm. This is exceptionally rare for Montreal, and it is good to see a large amount of resources dedicated for this service. The frequency, combined with every bus used being 60 feet, means that capacity is very high.

A sample of the timetable, northbound from Station Pie-IX.

In terms of speed, the route is notably quicker than the local service. The SRB leaving the station at 2:36 is scheduled to get to d'Amos in 26 minutes, whereas the local 139 that leaves around the same time is scheduled 37 minutes. Time savings of nearly 30% is incredibly good. In my experience on the bus, we left the station with a 139, and we passed the local within five minutes travel time. The bus reached d'Amos around ten minutes later than we did. As an additional comparison, the nearby 67 St-Michel takes 47 minutes to do the same distance. As such, Pie-IX is the obvious choice for getting to Montreal-Nord. I note that the SRB has to detour around Jean-Talon and Pie-IX due to construction, so the 26-minute scheduling could possible be dropped to around 22 minutes when the intersection is expected to open next year.

The speed is helped by the fact that most left turns on Pie-IX have been removed. Unlike in York Region, a full bus does not have to wait behind two cars to turn left, but instead proceeds with some degree of priority. Even when there were left turn lanes, they did not detract significantly from the experience.

Another thing I liked is that there are a decent amount of stops. While obviously they are further apart than regular bus stops, there are close enough where most people would be able to walk a bit of a longer distance to take advantage of the SRB service. As such, I think the reduction in service on the 139 is somewhat justifiable. Additionally, although the 139 serves curbside stops, as opposed to the center-street SRB, it makes passengers more confident in waiting for the SRB, instead of having to play Frogger with traffic to get to whichever bus comes first.

One thing that defines York Region's busways are huge stations in the middle of the street. SRB Pie-IX's stations are much simpler, and I consider this a massive positive. It allowed for easy construction, and maintenance is kept simple. Sure, heated shelters would have been cool, but these bus shelters do feature full coverage so that passengers are protected from the elements. It is also very clear where the bus will board: the gaps in the glass line up with the vehicle's doors. I did not see it myself, but depending the direction the sun is shining, it projects the green stained glass colour onto the entrances as well. The next arrivals board is accurate, and shows upcoming buses for the other agencies that use the busway: STL and EXO. 

Each station features 'Plan de quartier,' a map displaying nearby bus connections, parks and other details. I think this is great overall, as it allows for customers to easily orient themselves when off the vehicle. It's not overwhelming, and the maps are very simple to read.

Another thing I loved is the fact this busway is open. Although the majority of service is the SRB, it offers three destinations northbound, and two southbound, so customers who benefit from the corridor are not exclusively travelling to and from destinations on Pie-IX, and some even have reduced transfers. York Region's busways are closed, in that only VIVA Blue runs along Yonge Street's, for example, a those travelling to destinations not on Yonge must transfer at some point along the trip. Additionally, as mentioned, some STL and EXO services use the busway, allowing for access to destinations even further away.

While it isn't open just yet, and so I can't quite call it a positive just now, the station at Jean-Talon is being built with connections to the future Blue Line extension that will open in 2030. I'm glad some foresight is being used at this major transfer point, both for the sake of convenience, and for safety.

What I Didn't Like

Although I spoke highly of service frequency and span, I do have some concerns. I think 15-minute service after 7pm is a bit low, and it would be nice to see STM commit to 10-minute service until 10pm. I have a bigger issue on weekends: service is every 10-minutes until 6pm, then there is no SRB service, with passengers having to take 139 local. I feel that a 15-minute service until midnight is easily justifiable, and I wish that STM would commit to using the busway to its fullest potential.

Wayfinding is alright, but there are two places I would improve. First: destination signs. STM has always had poor destination signs, and the SRB's are better, but it would be nice if each destination was given a letter. For example, northbound buses to Lacordaire would be 439A, those to Henri-Bourassa would be 439B, and those to Laval the 439C. It would allow people to easily see where the bus is going, instead of having to read the destination sign as it scrolls across. Somewhat related, the map of service in the station is a bit tough to read. In particular, it makes it seem as if the '2' routing, to Carrefour Henri-Bourassa/Pie-IX is far away, but it's literally a block north of d'Amos. This would require only a minor refinement.

Related to the Carrefour, transfers are a bit annoying with the busy 48 Perras, 49 Maurice-Duplessis, and 69 Gouin routes on Henri-Bourassa, especially if transferring to go west. The best bet is to get off at d'Amos, unless you are on an SRB that ends at the Carrefour, where you can just cross the plaza. I think this will be resolved soon: a new set of traffic lights being installed may permit Lacordaire-bound buses to travel through the Carrefour, and provide the direct connection. The other finicky transfer point is at Gare St-Michel--Montreal Nord. It isn't a bad connection to the commuter rail, but it could have been better integrated with the stop at 56e. That said, the commuter rail station has only a handful of departures a day, so I'm not convinced that it would even be worthwhile. 

The walk isn't that bad.

In terms of corridor concerns, I think Pie-IX is still way too wide. It's expected when you have two lanes of traffic, plus bus lanes, plus stations, but there are a number of points where there's just dead space in between lanes. I wish more of an effort was made to narrow the street and make it safer for pedestrians. Additionally, I wish there was more TSP. Not waiting for left-turning cars is great, but I found we did have to wait at a few red lights. It would have been nice if there was a sensor to change to light green when a bus way approaching, even if only at a few key intersections. 

My last critique is about challenges for finding where to wait if you are travelling south of the station, towards Notre-Dame. All 139s travel south of the station, as well as some of the 439s. However, if I'm getting on north of the station, I have to juggle whether to wait at the SRB stop or at the curb. The best solution would be to have the 139 end at the station, and have all 439s run to Notre-Dame, so that those travelling to, say, Rouen, would always wait at the SRB platform. With the proposed extension of the busway southwards, this may happen anyways, but not for a few years.

Final Thoughts on SRB Pie-IX

The day this busway opened, it was a success. It made travelling by bus along Pie-IX attractive, predictable, and quick. As such, I think replicating this plan in other key corridors across the city would have the same degree of success, if not more. Below, I propose a few potential corridors, with a few notes about each.

• SRB Newman
• I previously spoke about this corridor on the blog. Wide street, so bus lanes are an easy fit. Short street, but directly connects two major terminals and higher-density housing, so ridership will stay very high.
  
• SRB Sauvé/Côte-Vertu
• I previously spoke about this corridor on the blog, even outlining my plan for SRB service. An obvious fix, but there are some tight spots that would have to be dealt with.
• SRB Henri-Bourassa
• Would help speed up a number of services travelling to and from Montreal North. Challenge of having both the 69 Gouin, as well as the 48 Perras and 49 Maurice-Duplessis, the latter two of which operate as bypass services. Sharing lanes would be a challenge.
• SRB St-Michel
• Similar corridor to Pie-IX, but travel times are extensively longer in the present.
• SRB Côte-des-Neiges
• Extremely busy bus route, connecting a lot of important destinations, like Concordia and the future Gare Ville-de-Mont-Royal. The most challenging of the potential corridors, due to it being extremely narrow in comparison to the rest. 

I hope the city of Montreal and STM see things the same way that I do, and work towards building out the SRB network.

Other Thoughts

I have a few other thoughts from my trip related to transit, that I will list below:

Moving fare from an expiring OPUS card to a new one is NOT a simple task seemingly.

The art installation at Carrefour Henri Bourassa/Pie-IX is super cool!

STM's next departure signs on its regular shelters are super dominated by ads, wow. Also, when you text for the next bus, it makes you select a specific route, but I was able to take either the 48 or the 49! That's quite annoying.

The 171 bus is ridiculous. So busy, and most of the passengers are travelling from either Station Henri-Bourassa or Station Côte-Vertu to either Collège Bois-de-Boulogne or Vanier College. It would be beneficial to everyone is there were was an express route between the two stations, stopping only at the two colleges. Maybe some Vanier traffic will move to REM once it opens (hopefully!)