Quebec City's tramway project 'still alive' as mayor tries to lower cost with new approach

Quebec City's tramway project is "still alive" but Mayor Bruno Marchand says the ball is in the provincial government's court now.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Marchand announced an $8.4-billion Plan B to complete the project, with the city as a prime contractor.

This comes after the city put an end to the call for tenders. Marchand said the only remaining bidder was unable to submit a financial proposal for the project due to a lack of funding.

"At first we thought that it was better to put the risk on a consortium, on companies that will manage it but as soon as we saw in the last month that doing so was increasing the price at a level that was not affordable for our citizens, affordable for the government … I decided that money was an object and we had to find solutions," said Marchand.

Finding a way to continue forward, he says they have come up with a plan to reduce costs.

Marchand said he couldn't say how confident he is that the project will come to fruition but he hopes the proposal is well received by the province, since it would cover 50 per cent of costs.

Provincial government to sit down with Marchand 

Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault said the government will be sitting down with Marchand to discuss the project.

"Obviously it's a higher cost than previously. It started at $3.3 billion," said Guilbault. 

"The next thing to do for us is to sit down with the mayor, with his team and to talk about what he tabled this morning."

It's normal for the government to take its time to fully consider the options on the table said Angèle Pineau-Lemieux, spokesperson for Accès Transports Viables, a group that promotes public transit. But she says every day the city delays the project, costs increase.

"I think that's everybody's goal to get that project done because we need it for economical, for environmental, for mobility reasons. People need it," said Pineau-Lemieux. 

"The city is on a good path to offer a responsible option for building this project with the lower cost."

Jackie Smith, the leader of Transition Quebec, said she was happy to hear that the city will manage the work itself. 

"Their Plan B would be our Plan A," said Smith.  

"Centralizing all type of work instead of continually subcontracting the city's work, we're going to be saving time, money and energy." 

"I'm totally confident this is the project we need. This is the solution to our challenges so we need to do it," said Marchand.

"We're facing a time [where] either we wait… Or we take the pragmatic solution, we build a good project."

Quebec City's tramway was longtime mayor Régis Labeaume's passion project but was passed on to Marchand when Labeaume retired from municipal politics in November 2021.

Marchand renewed his commitment — saying that he has a vision for the tramway to carry Quebec City into the future and to address environmental issues.

He says $500 million has already been invested in the project in preparation over the past six years.  

The city intends to proceed in stages with a timeline of 15 years.

Among the first stages will be the route between the Le Gendre terminus and Université Laval. People will then be able to start using the tramway while the second stage is under construction, linking it to the Jean-Paul-L'Allier garden. The final section will complete the route to the D'Estimauville interchange.