How Montreal Built a Blueprint for Bargain Rapid Transit
At $139 million per mile, the REM is far less costly than similar recent projects. Cities with ballooning transit budgets can learn from its approach.
Visitors ride the Reseau Express Metropolitain (REM) light rail during its inauguration ceremony in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Friday, July 28, 2023.
Photographer: Andrej Ivanov/BloombergThis summer, Montreal opened the first phase of its new rapid transit system, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM). Riders can now catch sweeping views of the city on the fully automated train, which runs elevated from downtown to the suburbs south of the St. Lawrence River. Though this first phase is only a small part of the overall network under construction, the REM is already serving 30,000 riders every day.
But the REM is more than a useful new transit line for Quebec’s largest city. It is in many ways unprecedented among recent North American transit projects, and bears valuable lessons for other cities.