Hampstead says no to articulated buses at Queen Mary/Ellerdale corner

At a public meeting held in Côte des Neiges by the MTC last week to gather input from West End transit users, Hampstead mayor Bill Steinberg threatened to have tickets issued to drivers of the new articulated buses if they block the intersection of Ellerdale and Queen Mary roads.

Hampstead officials have been trying for years to resolve a chronic congestion problem at the Ellerdale/Queen Mary corner. The MTC's #51 Edouard-Montpetit bus, heading west on Queen Mary, makes a left onto Ellerdale.

From Monday to Friday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., regular traffic isn't allowed to turn left. However, the buses are, and often end up blocking the Queen Mary/Ellerdale intersection. It is feared that the articulated buses, which are 20 feet longer than conventional ones, will make the situation worse.

According a brief submitted by Steinberg, a traffic study that Hampstead conducted showed that the westbound 51 blocks the Queen Mary/Ellerdate intersection an average 13 times each weekday afternoon. "Now you are suggesting longer, articulated buses for this route," he said. "This will make the problem even worse and that is unacceptable."

Two years ago, Steinberg suggested to the MTC that the westbound bus should be rerouted away from Ellerdale to solve the problem. "I am reiterating that you should change the bus route as we suggested," he said last week.

He said the transit agency needs to convince the City of Montreal of the need for another advanced green traffic light at the Côte St. Luc Road/Fielding Avenue intersection for the plan to work, and added that "you must guarantee that you will not put articulated buses on this route. "And I wish to advise you that we will be insisting on enforcement of all traffic regulations," said Steinberg. "Therefore, I request that you send a letter to your drivers copying me and Commandant Bissonnette of Police Station 9. The letter should state that bus drivers who block the intersection will get moving violation tickets from the police. Surely, you expect bus drivers to observe all traffic regulations. "We have already spoken to the police and encouraged them to give tickets to bus drivers who block the intersection and they are prepared to do so, but we haven't pushed particularly hard," Steinberg said in an interview. "And if the problem becomes even worse because they do not change the bus route or they put articulated buses on it, then, of course, we will probably speak to the police again."

Steinberg was not alone in commenting on the new articulated buses. In a brief submitted by Quebec Green Party candidate Peter McQueen, he said a major problem with the current transit service "is full and slow buses, which the addition of more, and hopefully, soon longer, buses is trying to address. "Entering the buses (especially if we get long tandem buses) is being slowed by only one entry point. We need a card swipe at the back door(s) so more can enter quickly, or just make the buses run on an honor system."