Video Presentation sol portfolio.mp4

Morgan Trewin (LinkedIn) and Kian Habibi (LinkedIn)

1. Summary

1.1 Problem Summary and Key Stakeholders

Montreal is committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, to combat climate change, but needs to reduce their emissions by a total of 55% from 1990 levels by 2030 to be on track (City of Montreal, 2020). Transportation accounts for 40% of Montreal’s emissions, with 86% of individuals with 10-25 km commutes taking the emission-heavy option of driving downtown to work (City of Montreal, 2020)(Statistics Canada, 2019). Impoverished Riviere-des-Prairies work commuters are forced to drive their cars to work and have lost trust in urban mobility because, according to Daphney Colin (the Borough Councilor), “Montreal East is the first section of the city to see [STM] transportation cuts” (Colin, 2023). Thus, targeting work commuters (ages 30-59) in Riviere-des-Prairies is crucial to reducing GHG emissions while increasing equality of opportunity in Montreal (Centraide, 2019) (Google Maps, 2023a) (Grimsrud, 2013).

Key stakeholders are summarized in Table 1 below.

                                                   *Table 1: Key Stakeholders*

1.2 Solution Summary

The solution will involve:

1. Separating existing bicycle lanes in Riviere-des-Praries from traffic with bollards and planter barriers, paving unpaved lanes, and expanding snow plowing to all lanes.
2. Adding a new train station stop along the Mascouche line.
3. Integrating cycling infrastructure with the train line and water taxi.
4. Expanding BIXI (bicycle share company) to RDP.
5. Allowing electric scooters to use bicycle lanes.

It has been estimated that the solution is safe, affordable, and convenient for the commuters of Riviere-des-Prairies. It will also increase their sense of inclusion with the rest of Montreal. The solution will reduce GHG emissions, is cheap to maintain, and aligns with STM’s projects. The solution will be supported by the Municipal government of Montreal because it is within budget, will reduce GHG emissions, has a short implementation timeline, and will minimally impact neighborhoods and businesses. More details are provided in Section 2.5.3.

1.3 Practical Humility Clause

The team has tried to obtain accurate information by interviewing Daphney Colin, the Borough councilor of Riviere-des-Prairies. However, assumptions have been made and are summarized below:

• It was assumed that all Riviere-des-Prairies commuters have identical mean salaries. In reality, Daphney said that there is economic disparity in Riviere-des-Prairies. If given more time, Riviere-des-Prairies residents would be surveyed to obtain geographic salary ranges.
• The decision matrix scores potential solutions relative to one another. A future improvement would be to come up with quantitative absolute scores for each solution.
• It was assumed that the Mascouche train line and water taxi will continue running for the foreseeable future. During the planning phase shown in Figure 7, this would need to be verified with STM.
• Cost and time estimates were made by researching similar projects online. In reality, accurate cost and time estimates can only be obtained by receiving quotes from relevant stakeholders.

2. Detailed Explanation

2.1 Problem and Stakeholders