One of the people seeking the leadership of the opposition Projet Montreal party says she'd eventually like to see a brand new metro line run from downtown to Montreal North.
Valerie Plante, who's hoping to earn her party's nod on Dec. 4 to run against mayor Denis Coderre in 2017, is putting forth an idea for a fifth metro line — a pink one — to start at the Bonaventure station on the orange line, run north to meet with the green line at McGill station, then east to meet up with the orange line again at Mont-Royal, and then north through the Rosemont district up to Montreal North.
The new line would meet up with the blue line again, at Pie-IX — which has yet to be built.
Even if she does become mayor next November, Plante wouldn't have the power to put her plan into action on her own, of course, but she posted the map to her Facebook page on Thursday as a way to get people excited about the possibility.
"I think it's a great moment to throw ideas and generate energy," she says. "All Montrealers love our metro, we love using public transit, but sometimes we feel that public transport doesn't love them so much."
She says the new crosstown line — "la diagonale", as she calls it — would also serve to ease the rush-hour congestion on the metro system, particularly northeast of downtown. And she says she'd be following the examples of other cities, such as Toronto, Paris and Los Angeles, that have similar projects on the board.
"It's easy to see how much pressure there is on so few metro lines, especially the orange and the green one on the east side of the city," she says. "And Berri-UQAM station is just so crowded. It's full capacity. So we need to find solutions on a long-term basis."
If she's elected mayor next year, she would bring her proposal up with the those she would need funding and ultimate approval from — the federal and provincial governments.