Last Thursday evening, a little before midnight, my 24-year-old daughter was hit in the face by an agitated lady who stormed out of a metro car at Lionel-Groulx station.
My daughter didn’t have time to see the lady coming, let alone the blow. She escaped with quite a scare, a bruise on her face and a sore nose.
I reported the incident on X the next morning. For several months, I have often reported the incidents I witness in the metro to draw the attention of decision-makers to the daily lives of users.
I also wrote a column two weeks ago in which I observed how the feeling of safety in the metro had deteriorated in recent months.
Read “Taking the metro has become stressful”
A reflection of our society
My colleague Maxime Bergeron spent a day in the metro recently in the company of security agents. What he observed brings grist to the mill of users who, like me, find the situation to be critical. “Poverty from one station to another,” wrote Maxime, listing all the incidents – consumption, violence, threats, etc. – which he witnessed that day.
Read “A Day on the Metro”
Montreal is no different from other large cities in the world (New York, Paris, Toronto, etc.), where security has also deteriorated: overdoses, mental health problems, housing crisis, etc. The metro is a microcosm – and a reflection – of our society.
If I make it a point to regularly talk about what is going wrong in the metro, it is also because I care about “my” metro. It’s my daily transportation and I want to continue using it without wondering if someone will push me onto the tracks (this happened in New York and Toronto) or spit in my face.
I don’t want everyone who can afford a car or a taxi to abandon it. I think it is important that we increase the number of reports to alert our decision-makers and to prevent us from reaching a point of no return beyond which it will no longer be possible to reverse the trend. Now is the time to act.
Nothing is going well anymore
Many people point the finger at homeless people as if they are solely responsible for the feeling of insecurity on our public transport. But the reality is that people who are homeless, who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or who have serious mental health problems are also at risk in the Metro. The proof ? Three hours before my daughter’s incident, a homeless man was stabbed by four young men in the same subway station.
Homeless people should not have to take shelter in the subway. They should have access to resources, to a safe place to stay. It’s inhumane to have to sleep on the ground in the middle of the comings and goings.
By sharing my daughter’s incident on X, I knew I would reach a lot of people. I received many calls, comments, and even interview requests, which I refused. Firstly because I had nothing to add and secondly because I believe that it is up to the leaders of the STM and the City of Montreal to answer questions from the media on safety in public transport.
In fact, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, has just taken a trip to the metro to see the situation for herself. I admit that I smiled when I saw the photos where we see her moving around with her entourage of around ten people.
Read “The mayor goes on a trip to see the insecurity”
I don’t know how this visit could have given him the slightest idea of the daily reality of an STM user. No one could have gotten near her.
Let us hope, however, that this symbolic visit translates into concrete actions.
It would be nice to have very visible security guards in the evening, when the platforms and cars are almost empty. It would be nice to replace the burnt out light bulbs so that the dark corners of the subway are lit. Without forgetting the addition of resources for vulnerable people.
I continue to think that if the powerful of this world used public transport every day, they would never tolerate such a situation. So why should “ordinary” users accept such conditions? Do we consider public transport users as second-class citizens? I believe it more and more.