Kirkland REM station needs to be more commuter-friendly, says resident

The City of Montreal plans to build a new active transport boulevard that would connect to the REM station in Kirkland to the borough of Pierrefonds, but residents are upset that this new boulevard won't allow cars.

Daniel Khoury launched a petition on Monday, asking the city to change its plan and open the road up to vehicle traffic.

The project, first announced in July, will feature a 1.2-kilometre stretch of road reserved for buses, cyclists and pedestrians only.

It will start on Ste-Marie Road and go up to Antoine-Faucon Street, close to where the Kirkland REM station will be.

Mayor Valérie Plante said at the time that she was confident this move would encourage commuters to use active transport.

But residents like Khoury aren't convinced.

"The West Islanders are car communities. They're families, they're elderly. They're people that use their car and need their car," he said.

Khoury told CBC that Plante is out of touch with West Islanders if she thinks people will change their schedules to use the road.

"A family with a child that needs to be driven to daycare. What is that person going to do? They're going to drive their child to daycare, come back home and take the bus? It doesn't make sense. We need the REM to be accessible."

To force the City of Montreal to respond, the petition will need 15,000 signatures. As of Tuesday night, it had garnered about 600.

The City of Montreal refused CBC's request for comment.