RTC

RTC unveils new routes, new app, more àVélo stations

Local Journalism Initiative / The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph / February 12, 2025 / Peter Black, Quebec City, RTC, transit

RTC unveils new routes, new app, more àVélo stations

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC), buoyed by a boost in ridership and a new source of revenue, is adding two new routes and implementing an application to integrate mobility services. It’s also moving ahead with an expansion of the popular àVélo bike-sharing network.

At a Feb. 5 news conference at a library in Val-Belair, RTC and city officials confirmed that several elements of the 2025-28 development plan unveiled in the fall will be put into effect as of this spring. The choice of Val-Belair is significant in that as of late August the 804 bus route will be extended into the sector.

According to RTC president and executive committee member Maude Mercier Larouche, the new $60 municipal tax on vehicle registrations, implemented at the beginning of the year, “allows us to maintain, but above all to efficiently develop our service offering.”

The registration fee affects some 300,000 vehicle owners and is expected to add nearly $20 million to city coffers.

In a news release, Mercier Larouche said, “With the improvements planned for the coming year, the RTC is realizing its vision for the future, which is to offer simpler, more direct and more efficient journeys by multiplying travel options.”

One travel option the city is promoting heavily is the àVélo bike-sharing service, which is managed by the RTC. As of May 1, 50 new stations, with 500 bikes will be added to the net- work in the sectors of Vanier, Saint-Louis, Saint-Rodrigue/ Jesuites and Maizerets. This marks the largest expansion of the service, now boasting 115 stations and 1,300 bikes, since it was launched in 2021.

Other new RTC services coming this year are the addition of Flexibus service in Cap-Rouge and the expansion of eXpress bus routes in the suburbs.

Also announced recently, is the awarding of a contract to develop a mobile application to integrate transportation services in the capital region.

According to a Jan. 31 release from the city, the new app, to be tested in the fall, will “bring together bus services offered in the CMQuébec territory (RTC, Société de transport de Lévis, Transport collectif de La Jacques-Cartier, PLUmobile), the tramway, adapted transport [used by people with disabilities], the Flexibus on-demand transport service and the àVélo electric bike-sharing service, as well as services from other partners such as car sharing, ferries (Société des traversiers du Québec), taxis, private and public parking lots and electric vehicle charging stations.”

The city said the app will be “the very first regional mobility platform developed for a public transit company in Canada.”

The city awarded the contract, with an overall estimated cost of $14.28 million, to Siemens Mobility Canada, a division of the German transportation technology giant.

Implementation of the app will be handled by Capitale Mobilité, the RTC’s division that manages ventures separate from bus system operations.

The RTC recorded a significant boost in ridership in 2024, as reported in data released on Jan. 24. Bus users took more than 31.5 million trips last year, a jump of 11.6 per cent.

Students accounted for the biggest increase, at 12 per cent, while there was a three per cent decrease in senior ridership. General customer use rose two per cent.

The increase in ridership added some $8 million to RTC revenue from passengers, for a total of $76.4 million.

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RTC scales up wheelchair access at bus stops

Local Journalism Initiative / The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph / December 3, 2024 / Quebec City, RTC, Ruby Pratka

RTC scales up wheelchair access at bus stops

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Wheelchair users who use the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) to get around the city will have a much more extensive choice of routes in the coming year, the transport authority announced last week.

All of the network’s 158 routes will feature accessible stops as of Dec. 21. Previously, only 14 routes were considered accessible, comprising less than 10 per cent of the network. About 1,400 of the 4,500 stops throughout the network will be accessible, an increase of more than 950.

A change in RTC rules surrounding the use of wheelchair ramps has led to the increase in the number of accessible stops. A 1.5-metre-wide stretch of pavement is considered wide enough to deploy a wheelchair ramp; the previous requirement was two metres. Changing the requirement, in consultation with disability rights organizations, was enough to multiply by 10 the number of accessible stops without doing any roadwork.

“I am delighted with this major step forward for our wheelchair users, who will now be able to move around our network more freely and efficiently. … With more than 1,400 accessible stops that will be in service on Dec. 21, we will exceed the goal we set two years ago, which was to add 1,000 [stops] by 2028,” Coun. Maude Mercier Larouche, president of the RTC, said in a statement.

“This new approach to accessibility for people using wheelchairs, developed in collaboration with the community, is a concrete demonstration of the RTC’s desire to make its network increasingly accessible to people with reduced mobility. This improved offer will allow greater autonomy and spontaneity in the travel of people in wheelchairs,” said Jean-Michel Bernier, president of the Regroupement des organismes de personnes handicapées de la Capitale-Nationale, in a statement.

Mercier Larouche said the RTC intends to continue working to improve accessibility on the regular transport network in the coming years. The RTC also operates the Service de transport adapté de la Capitale (STAC) on-demand door-to-door transit service for people with disabilities who are unable to use the regular network or who are uncomfortable doing so, or who are travelling to or from a destination without an accessible stop nearby, although STAC users must reserve trips at least a day in advance.

RTC spokesperson Véronique Lalande said about 85 per cent of RTC buses are equipped with ramps. Wheelchair users “can now board any bus equipped with a ramp that is at an ac- cessible stop,” she said. “These additional stops give wheelchair users a lot more flexibility.”

Lalande said further information would be made available on the network’s website and mobile app. In the meantime, transit riders with questions can contact the Service d’aide à la mobilité intégrée (SAMI; Integrated mobility assistance service) at 418-627-2511, option 1. The service is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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