Lack of parking poses big problems for REM users on the South Shore – Montreal

The officials of metropolitan express network (REM) has a solid record of punctuality since the launch, at the end of July, of the fully automated and entirely electric train service between downtown Montreal and the South Shore.

But for many, the problem is not on board, but in the parking lots.

The 227 free seats and 77 paid seats at Panama station fill up early in the morning. People wanting to park later in the day often use an adjacent parking lot, but this is private and reserved for authorized vehicles only.

“We didn’t know,” Raymonde Plourde told PKBNEWS as she left the parking lot.

Plourde, like many others, would like to see more legal parking spaces built at Panama Station.

“This is our first time taking the REM and it took us maybe 15 minutes just to find a parking space,” Omar Masaddi, a REM commuter, told PKBNEWS.

A REM spokesperson wrote in an email to PKBNEWS that people can park at a nearby station, Brossard, where there are up to 3,000 spaces available, or they can use other modes public transport to access Panama station.

But some say taking a bus to Panama City Station goes against the concept of park-and-ride parking and is time-consuming.

“I know it helps the environment, but it’s another 20 to 30 minutes to spend on transportation,” one commuter, who did not wish to be identified, told PKBNEWS.

A spokesperson for the mayor of Brossard wrote to PKBNEWS to say that the lack of parking remains a major challenge.