Montrealers excited for the launch of a new transit system

The réseau express métropolitain (RÉM), an automatic light rail system, has began opening some of its stations to the public in the Spring. All of its stations are said to be fully functional by 2025.

The RÉM has has major delays and along with that - a growing price tag. This has caused public critique, alongside concern of a private pension fund owning half of the RÉM. The other half of this transit project is own by the federal and provincial government.

Many Montrealers have expressed their concern that a partially-private run transit system will promote profits over people in a time of climate disaster, where we need transit more than ever.

Despite the critique, some Montrealers are celebrating the RÉM. Local 514 spoke with Concordia student in software engineering Andes Zamora-Luongo about his excitement for the REM. 

"The RÉM is the biggest project we’ve had last 40 years," said Zamora-Luongo.

He said that on a technical, innovative level – the RÉM is an interesting project, as it "being automized makes it 10 times better," said Zamora-Luongo.

"The Montreal metro passes every 5 to 10 minutes and it's often delayed," he said, adding that commuters can wait up to 15 minutes for metro past 8 p.m., but "probably not with RÉM."

Some have critiqued the loss of jobs through this project, as the RÉM does not utilize conductors as the metro does.

"Lets say there's another COVID [pandemic] and all of the conductors are sick – the metro wouldn't run, but the RÉM can just keep going," he said. 

" I can understand why people feel weird but it's not VIP line – not only rich people can take it," said Zamora-Luongo. "It will be integrated with rest of STM."