With a high-speed rail project in the corridor between Québec and Toronto officially announced, Canada might finally proceed to the modernization of its rail infrastructure and bring it up to par regarding long distance public transportation; however, question marks arise regarding the proposed route layout and the cities served. This conference will explore the methodological approaches and challenges encountered while codifying long distance rail and bus public transit in Québec in the GTFS format in order to diagnose the quality of current interregional transit in Québec and its accessibility to the population. With a province-wide representation of transit networks, it is now possible to compare total travel time by transit and by car, thus determining what proportion of the population has a viable alternative to their private vehicles when traveling across the province. With both supply and demand in transport observed through the first long distance OD survey available, methods used to design a long-distance transit network will be reviewed. As such, this research will provide a methodological pathway to build the public transport infrastructure needed to decrease the use of private vehicles in interregional trips to meet the sustainable transportation goals set by the provincial government in its policies.
