Visitors to the Festival d’été de Québec made massive use of public and active transport this year, while the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) saw a 26% increase in attendance during the event compared to 2022.
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Apparently, the end of the bus drivers’ strike at the last moment, on the eve of the celebrations, benefited festival-goers.
According to the RTC, almost 380,000 trips were made across the entire network on the twelve evenings of the show. For comparison, last year it was 300,000 when the festival made its big post-pandemic comeback.
Of these, 62,000 rides were made with the electrically assisted bike-sharing service ÀVélo, which corresponds to a third of the rides recorded in the entire 2022 season.
“It’s huge. A bike, a human, how many cars have we just transformed that didn’t cause congestion, that brought more movement to the city?” responded Pierre-Luc Lachance, vice president of the Quebec City Executive Committee responsible for active mobility.
Popular evenings
The four event shuttles from Lebourgneuf, Charlesbourg, Sainte-Foy and Beauport were used 122,300 times.
The busiest night on the bus was July 7 with 48,000 trips when the Americans Imagine Dragons headlined.
The àVélo service, on the other hand, broke its record for most trips in a single day on July 12 with almost 6,500 trips.
bike corridor
On the other hand, the city positively assesses the establishment of a temporary 1.7 km long cycle corridor on the Grande Allée during the festival.
Although traffic figures have not yet been announced, Pierre-Luc Lachance speaks of an undeniable success that has exceeded expectations.
“This little link was created to create the missing link to really connect the festival sites, so we’re extremely happy,” said the chosen one.
Other Initiatives
For him it is “very clear” that there will be cycling facilities again next year. However, the location could change depending on road works and tram-related works.
In his opinion, it should come as no surprise that other initiatives that improve the comfort of cyclists and pedestrians are popping up alongside other events.
“The cocktail of measures for active mobility will inevitably be one of the elements that we will use even better at major events in the future, that’s for sure.”