After more than two decades of operation, the weekend water shuttle connecting Montreal’s Lachine borough to Saint-Bernard Island in Châteauguay won’t be motoring across the St. Lawrence River this season.
Lachine Mayor Maja Vodanovic said it just got too expensive, with the bill jumping from $50,000 to about $98,000. The cost would have also gone up for the roughly 5,000 users as well, she said.
Gilles Tanguay, director of operations for Navark Boat Tours, said the borough is comparing a five-year contract price from 2018 to the price for the new contract which started in 2023. He said costs went up during the pandemic, and new services were added to the new contract.
Vodanovic said Montreal’s public transit authority (ARTM) is funding water shuttles elsewhere in Montreal, but not in the West Island.
“It’s almost like we are paying for public transit,” she said. “Is it our role to pay for this public transit?”
CBC News reached out to the ARTM, but spokesperson Séléna Champagne refused to comment on the municipally funded water shuttle.
Reviewing funding, service
Regardless, Vodanovic said the borough would like to review the shuttle’s funding model and possibly redesign the service itself — potentially moving it to a more accessible location or adding more destinations in the future.
“We’re willing to pay, but let’s kind of revisit the format,” she said, though it may be in a few years, when renovations to the waterfront are completed.
Vélo Québec, a bicycle advocacy group, is opposing the decision.
In a letter addressed to Lachine’s mayor, president and CEO Jean-François Rheault said the shuttle gives Montrealers access to Saint-Bernard Island’s nature reserve and the South Shore bike paths, while giving residents of the Montérégie region access to the Lachine Canal and all that Montreal has to offer.
“It allows you to benefit from direct and accessible public transit, without having to worry about parking or traffic,” he writes.
“In addition, the possibility of taking bicycles on the shuttle constitutes a major and distinctive asset for cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts, thus promoting active mobility.”
Navark has 27 boats and several shuttle services in operation, so the company won’t be hurt, but Tanguay said it’s sad to close a service that has been in operation since 2001.
Scaling back Boucherville water shuttle
Another service, connecting Boucherville, Que., to Montreal is slowing down this season.
City spokesperson Julie Lavigne said the shuttle to Montreal’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough will run from May 18 to Oct. 27. Its season is six weeks shorter than last year. The shuttle to the Old Port will run from June 1 to Oct. 14 — three weeks shorter than last year.
Lavigne said that was not a municipal decision. The ARTM funds the water shuttle as a way to compensate for congestion caused by construction on the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge–Tunnel.
The ARTM’s Champagne said the river shuttle pilot project will return in 2024, and the details of the season will be announced at the beginning of May. But what that service will look like comes down to funding.
“It is important to note that the budget is limited and relies largely on financial participation from the government of Quebec,” she said.
Beyond appealing to recreational tourism, the pilot project aims to test how river shuttles can complement existing public transit networks, Champagne said.
However, she added, public transit services are facing a $560-million shortfall in 2025. Because of this, she said, “particular attention is also given to the cost-benefit ratio.”
Reporter Matt D’Amours sets sail on one of five water shuttle routes in Montreal.