On May 18, The REM officially opened its third branch, extending service to Montreal’s West Island. But now, just weeks after the highly anticipated opening, issues over parking at the Kirkland station have begun to arise.
“I’ll tell you what I experienced today – this parking situation is absolutely abysmal, okay, me and my friends here tried to get some parking because we’re trying to be eco-friendly and take the REM, and there was no parking – guys, don’t you just find that outrageous!” said one Montrealer CityNews spoke to, before his friend added, “I had to park all the way down there, somewhere and I don’t want to walk all that way.”
According to residents, the problem stems at the Kirkland RioCan Centre, where 200 parking spots for REM users are reserved for Kirkland residents only, and the other thousands of parking spots are reserved for shoppers – leaving non-resident REM users with nowhere to park, without otherwise getting penalized.
“You can’t really park here if you’re not a Kirkland resident, and if you do I believe you get like an $80 ticket or a $100 ticket, but it kind of doesn’t make sense because where do you park if you want to take the REM,” said one Montrealer.
Another Montrealer said, “The first Saturday that the parking was opened, there was a parking agent that was watching everybody park their car and then walk to the REM and he would ticket them.”
When asked about the decision behind limiting parking to Kirkland residents, the mayor’s office replied to CityNews in a statement, saying:
“The Town of Kirkland took the initiative months in advance to secure parking for its residents when no parking was being offered by the REM at the Kirkland station. To do so, the Town negotiated an agreement with RioCan, the owner of the land, to make 200 spaces available for Kirkland residents.”
“It sucks because people that live just nearby from Pierrefonds get tickets and it’s just restricted,” said one Montrealer.
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While another said, “I don’t think it’s the brightest thing to let just Kirkland residents park here because l’Anse-a-l’Orme is always full and then you have all these spots that are always open.”
REM representatives dispute the Kirkland mayor’s office claims, telling CityNews that plans initially included 400–500 parking spaces. However, they say city officials intervened amid concerns about nearby streets handling increased traffic, adding in a written statement:
“For our Kirkland station, as for our entire network, we remain open to discussions and partnerships and continuously seek to improve access to our stations, whether by public transit, car or sustainable modes. For example, a recent agreement with the City of Montréal will enable the development of bike paths connecting to our stations, and we have also announced the addition of 300 free parking spaces at the Fairview–Pointe-Claire station.”
For now, REM officials say they’ll continue to monitor usage of facilities and are open to making adjustments, as they did at the Fairview-Pointe-Claire station and by redesigning their bus networks since May 18, to facilitate access to the REM.
“I feel like they could probably keep the 200 spots and open it up to everybody, because currently right now I don’t there’s 200 Kirkland residents that are going to be parking here, especially if it’s paid parking,” said a Montrealer.
