As of Monday, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) will end its commitment to respect a maximum waiting time of 10 minutes during peak hours on eight of its bus lines serving different sectors of the city. A decision taken for financial reasons which could affect thousands of public transport users.
According to our information, the news was announced Thursday to STM employees, the organization having also updated its website accordingly. Before the pandemic, the STM had 31 bus lines that were part of its “10 minutes max” network, which offered users the assurance that they would not have to wait more than 10 minutes at a stop during rush hour. morning and evening. Due to the health crisis, this network has crumbled and only eight lines still offered this service recently.
The transport company will thus sign the death warrant of this network by Monday by removing the billboards promising a maximum waiting time of 10 minutes at peak times on these eight remaining lines, which will now operate with a reduced frequency. The timetables for these lines will also be modified online and in the mobile applications where these can be consulted.
“With a view to sound management of public funds and in keeping with our current financial situation, it was finally decided to permanently withdraw this family of bus service starting January 9,” confirms the STM in an email sent to To have to friday.
The transport company also notes that the pandemic has changed the travel habits of its customers. Some buses thus find themselves running half-empty during rush hour, forcing the STM to review the schedules of several of its bus lines.
The eight bus lines concerned serve several metro stations located downtown, as well as in the east and west of Montreal. The boroughs concerned include Ville-Marie, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Sud-Ouest and Villeray–Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension.
“A huge disappointment”
The STM ensures, however, that all the bus lines of its old “10 minutes max” network will retain “a high frequency”, reporting “minor adjustments” to their schedules. It is enough for a bus to pass at a frequency of 10 to 12 minutes “for a short period” for the “promise” of a maximum delay of 10 minutes no longer to apply, illustrates the transport company.
The fact remains that the users of these lines will see their journeys become more complex since they will have to systematically consult the schedule of these lines before moving, deplores the director general of Trajectoire Québec, Sarah V. Doyon.
“Obviously, it’s a huge disappointment,” she says in an interview. “We will all have to start planning our trips and looking at the timetables before moving”, sighs Mme Doyon, according to whom the end of the STM’s “10 minutes max” network risks “considerably harming the attractiveness of the bus network”. The traffic of the transport company, already affected by the pandemic, could thus fall even more, she warns.
Financial reasons
This decline in the service offer in the STM bus network occurs at a time when it is facing significant financial challenges. At the end of November, when it announced its 2023 budget, the transport company forecast a shortfall of almost $78 million for the current year. She had then warned that she might have to make service cuts during the year to make up for her deficit, unless she received additional financial support from the government.
“It’s worrying for the future,” says an official of the STM, whose anonymity has been preserved because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “Are we going to let public transport enter a phase of decline? he wonders, emphasizing the importance of the transport company finding new sources of financing. Otherwise, the STM risks falling into a “vicious circle” by losing public transit users to the benefit of the car, warns this employee.
Joined by The dutythe Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), which is responsible for financing public transit in the greater Montreal area, claims to be “hard at work”, with the Government of Quebec, to find solutions to the challenges public transport in the greater metropolitan area, which are estimated at “half a billion for the year 2023 alone”.
“We remain confident of arriving at a short-term solution”, that is this year, assures a spokesperson, Simon Charbonneau. The latter adds that transport companies nevertheless have no choice but to adapt to the new travel habits of their users by adjusting their service, in particular to take into account the increased use of teleworking.
The ARTM also notes that in the fall of 2022, public transit ridership in the greater Montreal area is 70% of what it was in 2019.
Also in Toronto
It is not only in Montreal that public transit is suffering from the repercussions of the pandemic. A reduction in services is also planned in Toronto, the largest metropolis in the country.
Users of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) could thus have to wait up to 10 minutes for a subway this year, as opposed to seven minutes currently for periods outside of rush hour. Buses may also be more crowded and cost users more, the Toronto transit authority warned Thursday.
With Étienne Lajoie, in Toronto