Toll cordon around New York: “We are not there”, says Plante

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Montreal is not yet ready to imitate New York, which in 2021 will implement a toll system around its city center to finance its public transport, believes mayor Valérie Plante.

The State of New York confirmed Monday in adopting its budget that it would establish a cordon around a significant part of Manhattan to finance the repair of the subway network. “We’re not here at all,” reacted Mayor Valérie Plante.

The Montreal Metropolitan Community recommends setting up such a toll system, but only from 2024, the time to improve the public transport offer. In the meantime, the mayoress indicated that the CMM was rather working in the short term to expand the tax on registrations in order to increase the financing of public transport.

Motorists in the Montreal area pay $ 30 on their registrations to finance public transit, but those on the island must also pay a surcharge of $ 45. The CMM plans to extend this surcharge to the entire region, which would increase the contribution to $ 70 for everyone. “The funding does not meet the needs. I’m not even talking about the development of public transport, but just the operation, ”said Mr.^me Plant.

The mayoress also praised the “courage” of the City of New York for the establishment of this cordon, like cities like London and Stockholm. She believes that Quebec will have to become more committed to public transit. “Currently, Quebec is the opposite of the global and Canadian trend. We invest more in the road system than in public transit, ”she lamented.

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