Budget 2018 STM: less wait time for users

SÉBASTIEN ST-JEAN/24H MONTREAL/QMI AGENCY

Zechariah Goudreault

Wednesday, January 10, 2018 18:39

UPDATE
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 18:43

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Montrealers should spend less time waiting in 2018 to take the metro and the buses of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).

The STM will increase the number of buses on some lines, as well as the frequency of the subway outside of rush hours, which should allow a waiting less important to the users.

The STM has published on Wednesday its budget for the year 2018, which amounts to about $ 1.4 billion. The contribution of the City of Montreal to the increase of $ 27.7 million compared to the previous year for all of the public transportation in the metropolitan area.

Tariff increase in July

Moreover, the rates will remain the same until next June 30, before to be increased by 2 % on 1 July.

“This is a great budget for public transit,” argued the president of the organization’s Trajectory, Québec, François Pépin.

More bus

This year, the budget of the STM plans to invest more than $ 5 million for the addition of bus “at strategic locations”, in particular in the borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, as well as in Griffintown, which is experiencing a major economic development.

The STM also plans to replace about a hundred of buses to diesel with new hybrid buses air-conditioned this year.

The mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Chantal Rouleau, hope that these investments will be commensurate with the needs in his district.

“I hope that they will respond to the request because the lack of public transport has an important impact on the economic development here,” she said, citing also the problems of traffic congestion that knows his district located in the east of the island.

Although it welcomes these investments, François Pépin stresses that more dedicated lanes for buses will be created to make the latter more attractive than the automobile during peak hours, bypassing the traffic congestion. “It is extremely important to ensure the smooth flow of the service,” he said.

Frequency

The frequency of the passage of the subway will be enhanced in order to provide a service to the five minutes in the evening during the week on all lines of the network, as well as between 15 h and 22 h 30 on the weekends on the network as a whole, with the exception of the blue line.

Currently, the frequency varies between four and ten minutes in off-peak week, and between six and twelve minutes to the end of the week on the orange line.

“We see that the metro is crowded at certain hours, so if we increase the offer of service, we will attract more users to transit,” said the spokesperson of the Alliance, Transit, Félix Gravel.