Transit Authorities Say Too Little, Too Late

"While they say there might be new ways to turn motorists horrified by rising fuel costs into public transit users, they also say they've already done nearly all they can already to lure more passengers onto their buses and métro cars.

And at least one longtime observer of public transit in Quebec is wondering how any Mont-real-area transit corporation can radically transform its capacity to serve a growing clientele in time for the return to school and work this September.

'If they really want to meet an expected increase in demand (for public transit), they'd be stepping up the timetables for orders for things like buses and subway cars,' said Jean Léveillé of Transport 2000 Québec, a transit users lobby group.

'You're not going to increase ridership with 40-year-old métro cars.'