Getting around Quebec City more easily a top priority for voters

Vincent Mutia moved from Montreal to Quebec City a few years ago. Then last year, he moved to the town of St-Agapit on Quebec City's south shore.

"It's wonderful. I was able to buy property, which I would never have been able to do in Montreal on my salary. The tradeoff is it's a very long commute," Mutia said.

With transportation rating high in surveys of voters' priorities in this municipal election, CBC Quebec's Community Reporter Susan Campbell asked people in Quebec City and Lévis about how they get around.

Mutia leaves his house at 6 a.m. to begin the 45 km trip to work. He drives to Lévis, then boards the bus. One evening on a recent trip home, he came to a standstill on the bridge.

"The bus driver had to be like, 'I'm sorry, we're skipping a bunch of stops.' It ended up taking me almost two and a half hours to get home."

Commute aside, Mutia says his quality of life has improved with his move. But he thinks the time has come for another option for traffic between the north and south shores.

"I see the 'We don't want the third link' on my way to work. I think, 'Have you been across the river lately?' It's nightmarish!"

LISTEN | CBC Quebec reporter Susan Campbell rides to work with Vincent Mutia as part of her series on Quebec City transit, "Traffic, tramways and tunnels."

Urban cycling

When Christian Landry started teaching at Université Laval, he decided to bike the few kilometres between his home and campus daily. But he quickly realized his feeling of safety depended on where he was in the city.

"There are some bike paths that are protected and there you feel safe, but there are many other parts where you're biking with cars," he said.

Landry would like to see Quebec City invest in more protected bike paths, and better connect the existing network.

He said if people feel secure, they'll start using their bikes to get around, pointing to the Promenade Samuel de Champlain, a popular path that runs along the St. Lawrence River.

"When we moved here, that infrastructure didn't exist. Now there are so many people biking there — including some who obviously haven't biked for a long time," Landry said.

Landry believes it will take political will to make change for cyclists.

"You can't win a municipal election in Quebec City on bikes. You really need someone who's going to say we will build it, and they will come," he said.

Carpooling from the suburbs

Edouard Turmel has no bus service in his municipality, Lac-Beauport, so he says his car is the only option to get to and from CEGEP in Sainte-Foy.  He and his friends try to carpool, but he's feeling the pain at the pump, making the 55 km round trip daily.

"I remember when I got my car, the first time I put some fuel in, a full tank was $40-45. Tuesday, it cost me $70," he said.

Turmel and his friends would love to save money on gas, but the lack of transit options in the outer suburbs make it difficult.

Thomas Delisle, who carpools with Turmel and lives in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, says to go downtown on the weekend, they need to designate a driver and pay for gas, park overnight, or pay for a taxi. 

"Depending on how much you spend at the bar, it can be a $150 to $200 for a night," Delisle said.

Samuel Barbeau lives in the Lebourgneuf sector of Quebec City. He can take the bus, but there aren't many routes outside of rush hour, so he often has to drive himself to school and work. 

Barbeau says improving bus service through the day would encourage him to sell his car.

A 2-hour round trip to school and work

By 6:30 most mornings, Erin Clarke, her son Lucas, 21, and her daughter Sophie,14, are in the car and ready for the drive downtown from their home in the suburb of Val-Belair.

Their house is minutes away from a direct route into town, Highway Henri IV, but Erin avoids it because of road work that's been ongoing for years.

"Every time you turn on the radio, it says don't bother, especially if there's an accident on the bridge. It backs up all the way out here," she said.

Clarke and her family spend two hours in their car every day, doing the daily 40 km round trip. She believes they are spending more time on the road because of increasing population density in the area.

"They're building these condo complexes. Every time they take land, they're taking out one house and putting in three," she said. 

Clarke supports the plan for a tunnel that would reduce traffic on the bridges from the South Shore, because it would lessen the impact on her travel when there are problems. She doesn't support blending it with the plan for a tramway serving the central neighbourhoods of town.

"It seems to me, the east-west corridor is very well looked-after. It's in the north end, where we've been complaining about traffic jams for years," Clarke said.