Allégo Program

Community context

The Metropolitan Montreal area is the most heavily populated region in Quebec and the second most heavily populated area in Canada. In 2001, it had over 3.4 million inhabitants. The region has a total area of 4,047 km2 and an average population density of 847 inhabitants per square kilometre. In 1998, the residents of the metropolitan area made more than 6.5 million motorized trips, 1.5 million (23%) of them during the morning rush hour. Of this total, 5.1 million (78%) were car trips.

 
Mass transit in the Montreal metropolitan area consists of an integrated network of subway lines, commuter trains and buses. These services allow the 3.4 million inhabitants of the 63 municipalities of the Metropolitan Montreal Area to get around.

The Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (AMT) was established by the Quebec government in 1995. The agency’s mission is to expand mass transit and thereby improve the travel efficiency of people in the metropolitan area, while strengthening urban hubs and fostering the quality of urban life.

The AMT manages and funds the metropolitan commuter train system and facilities of metropolitan interest, such as park-and-ride lots, reserved lanes and bus terminals. It also sets fares, issues passes and provides assistance to the 17 transport authorities that provide services on the metropolitan bus transportation system. The AMT coordinates paratransit services and oversees the implementation of the Allégo Program. Lastly, the AMT is responsible for planning, coordinating, integrating and promoting mass transit and improving the efficiency of roads of metropolitan interest.

To improve travel efficiency in the metropolitan area, the AMT is investing in mass transit:

• 25 reserved lanes covering a total of 78 km, and accommodating 250 regional routes
  
  

• 12 regional bus terminals
  
  

• 2 regional express bus services
  
  

• 5 commuter train lines covering 198 km
  
  

• 54 park-and-ride lots (more than 23,400 spaces)
  
  

• 4 subway lines, with the extension of Line 2 (orange) to Laval under way
  
  

• 2 LRT (light rail transit) projects under consideration
  
  

• 1,686 parking spaces for bikes

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Policy context

Urban sprawl and increased car travel are leading to road congestion at peak hours, resulting in increased idling time, and increased polluting vehicle emissions. The bridges and tunnels that connect the Island of Montreal to its north and south suburbs are no longer adequate to the demand. Furthermore, the increase in demand far outstrips the financial capacity of governments to develop the road system. In Quebec, the transportation sector generates 37 per cent of all greenhouse gases, making it a priority target for action.

At the same time, public transit corporations are underfunded, resulting in reduced services and increased fares, which are already causing the clientele to shrink.

Congestion is increasing on the main metropolitan arteries and bridges, with repercussions on the Island of Montreal’s local road system. According to forecasts, this congestion is going to worsen, with a predicted increase of 147,000 motorized trips during morning rush hour by 2007.

If no changes are made, transit ridership will decline by 6.1 per cent, or a decrease of 21,000 trips during morning rush hour, and rush-hour travel time will increase for all drivers. As a result, traffic congestion on bridges and on the Island of Montreal is likely to intensify the trend for businesses and residents to move to increasingly distant suburbs

A prosperous urban area that offers a better quality of life to both individuals and communities depends not only on the development of mass transit but also on better management of transportation demand management. The challenge is to offer fast, attractive, accessible and flexible transportation alternatives to the majority of people travelling in the region, while showing constant concern to optimize resources and meet user needs.

It is for this reason that the AMT introduced the Allégo Program in 1999. It is specifically aimed at getting the 5,000 businesses with more than 50 employees and the 35 colleges and universities of the metropolitan area to initiate easy-to-implement, low-cost, customized solutions. These solutions mainly involve developing and promoting attractive transportation alternatives that can compete with SOV travel. To ensure that the business and institutional initiatives are successful, the Allégo Program encourages the development of an effective partnership with the metropolitan area’s transportation stakeholders (governments, municipal authorities, mass transit agencies and local organizations).

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Rationale and objectives

The following table outlines the objectives of the Allégo Program and the results the AMT expects by 2012.

As the Allégo Program is a completely new approach, the AMT and the MTQ agreed to start by conducting pilot projects. There are several goals:

• They must serve as examples, which means focusing not on the quantity so much as the quality of the experiments.
  
  

• Their potential must be assessable, and they must develop practical knowledge about this new kind of approach in the context of the Metropolitan Montreal Area.
  
  

• They must allow adjustment of the framework and the financial assistance needed to ensure the success of the experiments.

In the fall of 2004, the AMT performed an assessment of the pilot projects carried out under this program since 1999. The assessment made by the employers, transportation management centres and partners involved was positive and is serving as the basis for discussions with the MTQ for a permanent government assistance program to be made available. It will also allow necessary adjustments to be made to the Allégo Program.

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Actions

Development of Allégo tools and services. The tools and services developed by the AMT to encourage, promote and ensure the success of the Allégo initiatives of businesses, institutions and TMCs are listed below.

• Sharing of transportation demand management expertise
  
  

• Conducting feasibility studies with partners to help to develop projects tailored to local needs
  
  

• Free access to carpooling software, a practical tool helpful for forming carpooling teams
  
  

• Development of the Allégo logo
  
  

• Information booth
  
  

• Trial metropolitan transit pass (TRAM card), a marketing device targeted directly at employees who travel alone in their cars, allowing them to try public transit free for a month
  
  

• Allégo kit, a reference tool for businesses and institutions and an information and awareness-raising tool for TMCs.
  
  

• Allégo training for businesses, institutions, TMCs and transportation partners
  
  

• Annual Allégo show and presentation of the Allégo merit award
  
  

• Organization of the 2003 International Transportation Management Association Summit of the Association for Commuter Transportation
  
  

• Mass-transit annual subscription pilot project: turnkey service for employers that offers employees a chance to buy 12 passes for the price of 11. Payment is deducted from their salaries. A pilot project is currently under way for Transport Quebec employees, in conjunction with the three transportation corporations, the intermunicipal transportation boards (CITs) and the municipal and intermunicipal transportation agencies (OMITs) of the Montreal area. If the experiment is conclusive, the service can be extended to other Montreal businesses
  
  

• Assessment of Allégo pilot projects culminating in recommendations on how best to support local demand management experiments in the future

Transportation management centres (TMCs). The Allégo Program also fosters the setting-up of TMCs, which, like American Transportation Management Associations, are designed to mobilize private-sector support to find and implement alternatives to SOV travel in a clearly defined employment area. To that end, the TMC promotes alternatives, develops partnerships with local and regional actors, organizes and manages measures to promote mobility in cooperation with member-businesses, and provides representation for employers on public bodies.

There are currently four centres— one in downtown Montreal, a second in the Borough of Saint-Laurent, a third in East End Montreal and a fourth in Laval:

• Smart Commuting, sponsored by the real-estate developer Cité Multimédia, was the first TMC launched, in January 2001. In May 2002, it became an independent non-profit organization. Its territory covers the whole of downtown Montreal (more than 7,000 places of businesses, three large universities and more than 20 office buildings housing over 100 employees a piece). The centre’s objective is to raise awareness of the mobility issue among large employers, real-estate developers and property managers in this area and thereby convince them to adopt measures that will help to reduce car use by employees and clients. The management centre means to be a clearing house for information about alternative travel solutions for the downtown area.
  
  

• The Saint-Laurent Commuter Management Centre began operation in November 2001. It is located on the premises of the Economic Development Department of the Borough of Saint-Laurent. Its territory includes approximately 1,500 employers, 650 of them manufacturers. During the 5th International TMA Summit, held in Montreal, the centre received the award for the best Transportation Management Association in North America. The TMC’s objectives are job creation, the development of partnerships with businesses and transportation authorities, the devising of inter-business associations to solve accessibility problems and the development of carpooling programs and the carpooling system.
  
  
  
  
                              
  

• The Centre de gestion des déplacements de l’Est (the east-end transportation management centre) began operation in December 2001 through an initiative of the economic development corporations (Société de développement économique Rivière-des-Prairies – Pointe-aux-Trembles – Montréal-Est―SODEC) of Rivière-des-Prairies, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montreal East. It operates over an area of 54 km2, where some 17,500 employees work in 89 SMBs (small and medium businesses). The centre’s objectives are to promote job creation, facilitate travel in the Island of Montreal’s east end, develop transportation solutions tailored to the needs of businesses, develop partnerships, coordinate actions between employers and transportation corporations and promote various modes of transportation to reduce dependency on SOV use. The centre has conducted two origin-destination surveys of employees to better target its actions. It currently manages a carpooling program and an emergency drive-home service.
  
  
  

• Allégo Laval was launched in March 2004 in a partnership between the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chambre de commerce et d’industries de Laval―CCIL) and the Laval Transit Corporation. Laval’s 110,000 workers, employed in more than 9,815, mainly SMBs, have access to a range of alternative modes of transportation that are competitive with SOV travel, economical and environmentally friendly. Allégo Laval provides a matching service, an emergency drive-home service for carpoolers and offers a range of economic benefits for those who travel in ways other than driving alone in a car. 
  
  
                              

Results

Since 1999, some 20 Allégo projects have been carried out in the Metropolitan Montreal Area with AMT technical assistance.

• Fourteen projects initiated by employers that can potentially reach 51,000 employees and 28,000 students directly
  
  

• Three TMCs and one private-public partnership associated with a TMC. These can potentially raise the awareness of and mobilize roughly 14,460 employers.
  
  

• Two carpooling projects managed by the Lower Laurentian CIT and the City of Châteauguay and serving 190,000 citizens from their places of residence

Key points of the Allégo Program assessment:

• Thirteen of the fourteen individual programs are active, or 5.2 per cent of the 10-year target.
  
  

• Four local authorities have Allégo Programs and two sponsor TMCs.
  
  

• Three TMCs and one private-public partnership associated with a TMC are operational, representing 40 per cent of the 10-year objective.
  
  

• No citizen-city projects were successful, equal to zero per cent of the target.
  
  

• In one Allégo Program, SOV trips fell from 34 per cent to 3 per cent among participating employees.
  
  

• Allégo brought about a change in the transportation behaviour and habits of 2.6 per cent of the employees of a business. 
  
  

• The Allégo Program is valued and appreciated by businesses, institutions, TMCs and partners.

By way of example, some businesses that have implemented an Allégo Program are listed in the appendix. 

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Participants

The AMT encourages and promotes the formation of partnerships between employers, TMCs and various transportation stakeholders, as such partnerships are essential to the success of Allégo projects.

Currently, some 30 organizations are working together in their respective areas of competency in a complementary fashion to ensure the success of the initiatives of employers and TMCs. These organizations are:

• Public authorities — Montreal boroughs of Saint-Laurent and Ville-Marie, the City of Laval, the MTQ, Environment Canada, Transport Canada and Employment Quebec
  
  

• Transit operators — Montreal Transit Corporation, the Laval Transit Corporation and the Longueil transit system
  
  

• Ten CITs and two OMITs
  
  

• Community organizations — Vélo Québec (cycling organization), Communauto (car-sharing organization), the regional environmental council and the local employment centre
  
  

• Economic development organizations — Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles economic development corporation (SODECs) and the Saint-Laurent Economic Development Department
  
  

• Chambers of Commerce — Metropolitan Montreal and Laval
  
  

• Businesses and developers — Bell Canada, which provides its telework expertise, Gestiparc, Cité Multimédia, SITQ, Shell Canada

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Resources

The table below shows Allégo Program expenditure between 2000 and 2003.

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Timeline

1999

• Enrolment of Bombardier Aerospace

2000

• Enrolment of Charles-Lemoyne Hospital and Nortel Networks (dropped)
  
  

• Citizen-city approach in Châteauguay (dropped)

2001

• Design of logo
  
  

• Establishment of Allégo information booth
  
  

• Start of operations at three TMCs
  
  

• Enrolment of three employers
  
  

• Citizen-city approach of Lower Laurentian CIT (dropped)
  
  

• Survey carried out among Laval employers and employees
  
  

• 2001 Allégo show and merit awards

2002

• Development of the Allégo Kit, together with a brochure and jacket
  
  

• Enrolment of two employers
  
  

• 2002 Allégo show and merit awards

2003

• MTQ pilot project on annual subscriptions
  
  

• Launch of Allégo Laval
  
  

• Enrolment of six employers
  
  

• New marketing tools 
  
  

• Allégo 2003 show and merit awards

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Lessons learned

• Involvement in transportation demand management sheds a different light on transportation and opens the door to different ways of doing things (e.g. the Allégo Program).
  
  

• Consider transportation demand management as part of a regional action strategy, because this new approach alone cannot solve all the problems associated with the mobility of people and goods in a region.
  
  

• Begin simply with pilot projects, relying on local knowledge and strengths and getting public sector employers to set an example.
  
  

• Gradually develop new habits. This takes time, effort and will.
  
  

• Focus on private-public partnerships allowing stakeholders to complement one another’s actions. Employers should be viewed as new actors in transportation.
  
  

• Give preference to a voluntary approach over a regulatory one. The more popular approach, it must allow mobility objectives to be met and support innovative initiatives by transportation actors.
  
  

• Consider first and foremost the needs of clients, users and employers. Transportation demand management allows tailor made, flexible, low-cost solutions to be developed. 

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Next steps

The assessment of the Allégo Program completed in the fall of 2003 is prompting the AMT to make some adjustments to ensure the success of local transportation demand management initiatives, including:

• Setting realistic objectives based on the experience of the past four years
  
  

• Negotiating and formalizing an agreement with the MTQ on terms and conditions of financial assistance and the AMT’s role in support
  
  

• Publicizing the Allégo Program
  
  

• Developing carpooling software for the Internet and developing carpooling technical tools
  
  

• Developing an Allégo Internet site to promote the enrolment of businesses and institutions in the Allégo Program
  
  

• Continuing to develop new incentives for employees that are easy for the employer to implement
  
  

• Formalizing agreements with partners to clarify their role in the Allégo Program

Appendix — Characteristics of the Allégo Program in four organizations

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