In the previous two articles we observed that many projects for an underground transit in Montreal appeared around the turn of the century. The question is, why so much excitement?

First of all, at that time in history, transit was a private business. Visions of profits brought in by the construction of the system and then by the right to exclusive operations caught the mind of even the most laid-back entrepreneur. Remember too that the years 1896 to 1914 represented the heyday of la Belle époque in Montreal — an euphoric time of prosperity, economic boom, immigration and urban growth. It was the Golden Age of the great stores: Ogilvy, Dupuis et Frères, Au bon marché. Montreal was the country’s financial and commercial capital. With its port facilities, Montreal was a crossroad through which goods and people came and went, brought in by a dozen railroad companies from Western Canada and the US.

In what appears to be the first study carried out by the City of Montreal on this issue, railroad engineer G.R. Macleod, in a document dated February 7, 1914, emphasized the fact that the population of Montreal jumped from 270,000 in 1899 to 650,000 in 1913. At the same time, while the number of tramway tracks stayed about the same, the number of tramways in operations increased drastically. The Montreal Tramways Co. carried 160 million customers in 1913, whereas it carried 40 million in 1899. Montreal was spreading: people were moving into new neighbourhoods while still going downtown to work. And downtown, with its narrow streets and lack of large avenues, was wedged between the river on the south and the mountain in the north.

There was gridlock during peak hours. Traffic checks carried out in the beginning of December 1913 (Macleod survey) indicated that from 5 to 7 in the evening, 485 tramways were counted on the 4 main downtown north-south arteries. On some streets, there were more than a tramway a minute. They were almost lined up bumper to bumper. And in addition to the number of tramways, there were cars, parking places, and horses. Montreal was slowly suffocating. Canada’s heart couldn’t get enough oxygen in the morning and in the evening.