Yellow line extension considered as Quebec looks to develop South Shore's public transit

With the light-rail network slated to connect Montreal to Brossard in 2021, the Quebec government is scrambling to develop public transit along the South Shore's east-west corridor.

To kick that effort off, the province will invest $60 million to determine which mode of public transit should be developed and no option is off the table, announced Chantal Rouleau, the junior transport minister, on Sunday.

"We're keeping all doors open," she said, citing possibilities such as extending the Yellow line and redeveloping  Taschereau Boulevard.

"We really want to let the specialists make the most appropriate recommendations."

A new office will be established to study options for the east-west transit corridors, coming up with a plan by the summer of 2021.

Brossard will have three stops along Réseau express métropolitain (REM) network, connecting to Montreal along a north-south route, but those three stops are far from many South Shore commuters.

"How do we maximize the east-west axis as quickly as possible?" asked Christian Dubé, the minister responsible for Montérégie.

"And how do we ensure that all South Shore citizens have access to a network of the same quality as the REM on the north-south axis?"

The South Shore has reached a stage where an east-west corridor could extend from La Prairie to Boucherville, said Longueuil's mayor, Sylvie Parent, who welcomed Quebec's announcement.

A similar development office did the work that eventually became the REM project currently underway.

Montreal's public transit agency, the STM, said the Longueuil-Université-de-Sherbrooke Metro station was the fifth busiest of the subway network in 2017, serving nearly eight million passengers that year.