Montreal Metro | Free admission for seniors shows first results

The effects of free public transportation for those aged 65 and over are starting to be felt in Montreal. In the space of six months, the measure generated more than ten million trips, in addition to increasing ridership by 15 to 20% in this age group.

“It really must stay, this measure. It really helped people my age, who decided to get out a little more, to break the isolation. It’s really a good idea that they had and it must continue,” says Denise Sauvé, a resident of Villeray who regularly uses the metro.

The Montrealer also says she is enthusiastic about these preliminary results, which she wants to see continue to increase. “Especially for less well-off people, it’s certain that it boosts traffic. If we removed that because of the financial context, it is certain that the oldest will simply abandon it,” judges M^me Sauvé, who also hopes to avoid the anticipated service cuts in public transportation. “We would really create another impasse,” she said.

In a report recently made public by the City of Montreal, we learned that at the end of 2023, approximately 47% of the population aged 65 and over had subscribed to the free offer on the metro and buses. In the metropolis alone, this represents more than 166,000 seniors, out of a total of approximately 353,500.

Ultimately, free access thus generated “an increase of 15% to 20% in public transport trips for this age group”, we read in the document, which specifies that 70% of adapted transport users have also 65 years and over.

At the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), president Éric Alan Caldwell speaks of “tremendous results”. According to him, the achievement behind this initiative was “to succeed in adding customers without costing more”. “Approximately 74% of trips in this age group are made outside the peak and for the remaining 26%, we rely on the residual capacity of the metro. We therefore did not need to increase expenses or costs to increase ridership,” he says.

40 million per year

Free public transportation for those aged 65 and over was officially announced in the City of Montreal’s latest budget last November, but it has been a flagship promise of Valérie Plante’s party since 2017, the year in which the mayor was brought to power for the first time.

This measure costs the City 40 million annually. Note, however: as this new incentive measure was only put in place in July 2023, it only cost 24 million for its first year.

Like Mayor Valérie Plante, the president of the STM believes that criticism regarding free admission for seniors is unfounded, since this expense is linked to his budget and not to the payment made to the ARTM. “In no way does it affect the contribution we make to the deficit. On the contrary, as our contribution is based on the number of passengers, the more seniors I have who enter the metro, the more money I give to the ARTM,” illustrated M^me Planted last November.

The ARTM, for its part, specifies by email that “for the period from 1^er July to December 31, 2023, the City of Montreal paid an amount of 17.5 million to compensate for the fare revenue that was not paid by users as part of the free system.

For the future, Eric Alan Caldwell persists, “nothing indicates to us that there will be a reduction in membership of the free program”. “On the contrary, we expect it to continue to increase again and again,” says the man who is also a municipal councilor in the Hochelaga district.

In March 2023, just a few months before the implementation of free admission for those aged 65 and over, a study by McGill University immediately revealed that around four out of ten seniors would use public transportation “more” in the metropolis because of this program.