The Ligne verte, a complete success!

We are happy to announce that our UTSP (Urban Transportation Showcase Program) project is a success! The STO has in fact been able to meet its objectives for this project. This initiative has helped to demonstrate, verify and validate the effectiveness of combining a number of measures to increase the attractiveness and promote the use of public transit. Consequently, the project had a positive impact on the environment by helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and diesel fuel needs.

Here are a few highlights of the conclusion of this study.

• The measures put in place with the UTSP, including the two hybrid buses and the Ligne verte infrastructure, meant reducing GHG emissions by 1,000 tonnes, or 200 less cars on our region’s roads.
• The hybrid technology helped reduce fuel consumption by 12% in the Ligne verte corridor compared to regular buses. A reduction in fuel consumption by hybrid buses thus resulted in a reduction in GHG emissions of nearly 15 tonnes annually for a bus that logs 70,000 km a year. By using hybrid propulsion technology, the STO project helped eliminate 30 tonnes of GHGs, solely in the corridor studied.
• The modal share of public transit, namely the proportion of trips made in the area by bus compared to all other modes of transportation, increased by 1.9% during this same period.
• A survey of riders who used the Ligne verte showed that 97% were satisfied with the design of the bus shelters, bus stops and the buses with their wavy blue and green colours, and 80% said that the efforts made to promote this route encouraged them to use the bus more.
• The pilot project helped increase public transit traffic in the corridor by 7.5% between winter 2008 and winter 2009, or 5.5% higher than the traffic on the rest of the system during the same period.

For more details, consult the Annual and end of project report (available soon)