Voters around Quebec City say transit is top priority for them this municipal election

Vincent Mutia moved from Montreal to Quebec City a few years ago. Then last year, he moved to the town of St-Agapit on Quebec City's south shore.

"It's wonderful. I was able to buy property, which I would never have been able to do in Montreal on my salary. The tradeoff is it's a very long commute," Mutia said.

With transportation rating high in surveys of voters' priorities in this municipal election, CBC Quebec's Community Reporter Susan Campbell asked people in Quebec City and Lévis about how they get around.

Mutia leaves his house at 6 a.m. to begin the 45 km trip to work. He drives to Lévis, then boards the bus. One evening on a recent trip home, he came to a standstill on the bridge.

"The bus driver had to be like, 'I'm sorry, we're skipping a bunch of stops.' It ended up taking me almost two and a half hours to get home."

Commute aside, Mutia says his quality of life has improved with his move. But he thinks the time has come for another option for traffic between the north and south shores.

"I see the 'We don't want the third link' on my way to work. I think, 'Have you been across the river lately?' It's nightmarish!"

LISTEN | CBC Quebec reporter Susan Campbell rides to work with Vincent Mutia as part of her series on Quebec City transit, "Traffic, tramways and tunnels."

When Christian Landry started teaching at Université Laval, he decided to bike the few kilometres between his home and campus daily. But he quickly realized his feeling of safety depended on where he was in the city.

"There are some bike paths that are protected and there you feel safe, but there are many other parts where you're biking with cars," he said.

Landry would like to see Quebec City invest in more protected bike paths, and better connect the existing network.

He said if people feel secure, they'll start using their bikes to get around, pointing to the Promenade Samuel de Champlain, a popular path that runs along the St. Lawrence River.

"When we moved here, that infrastructure didn't exist. Now there are so many people biking there — including some who obviously haven't biked for a long time," Landry said.

Landry believes it will take political will to make change for cyclists.