Montréal

Hoping for the benefits of being able to buy a monthly bus pas with my debit or credit card at the automatic machines in the metro stations (as opposed to carrying around $70 cash, having the metro booth person be missing, having them "run out" of bus passes, etc) as well as the advantage of the insurance policy (supposedly if you lose your bus pass the STM will be able to reimbourse you) I decided to buy an OPUS card today.

( Long, painful efforts under here...  )

For regular fare transit users, I recommend waiting at least several months before upgrading to an opus card! Perhaps by then they will be more widely available and easier to acquire. What a hassle!!!

 I have a job interview in Candiac and I live in Pointe St Chales. How can I find the best way to get there by public transportation? Is the south shore bus system called AMT? I can't seem to find a similar thing to Tous Azimuts to figure this out. Can anybody help?

Has anyone here ever tried to (and successfully, I hope!) claimed taxi fare to the STM? I just got the forms in the mail from the STM and I'm going to prepare my claim this weekend, but aside from my complaint that my bus was over an hour late I don't have any back up (well other than my taxi receipt)*. Any tips?

*I also have something like 50 or 60 logged complaints regarding the route itself (the 201) from the past year alone, and I only file a complaint when it's over 20 minutes late, ayeee

Thanks!

Since there have been some posts on Tremblay's transport proposal, here are some figures from the report, which is available from the Ville de Montreal website...

Remplacement des voitures du metro MR-63: 1140 M$ (75% payer par la province)(p.92)
Remplacement des voitures du metro MR-73: 1140 M$ (p.92)
Prolonger la ligne 5 (bleue) de Saint-Michel a Pie-IX: 170 M$ (p.68)
Prolonger la ligne 5 (bleue) de Pie-IX a Saint-Leonard et Anjou: 775 M$ (p.68)
Prolonger la ligne 2 (orange) de Cote-Vertu a Bois-Franc: 340 M$ (p.69)
Tramway du Centre des affaires, Vieux-Montreal et Havre de Montreal: 260 M$ (p.73)
Tramway de l'avenue du Parc: 475 M$ (p.73)
Tramway du chemin de la Cote-des-Neiges: 250 M$ (p.76)
Implanter des autobus articules sur une vingtaine de circuits a fort achalandage: 184 M$ (p.79)
Realiser le train de l'Est de Montreal: 300 M$ (p.85)
Implanter une navette ferroviaire entre l'aeroport et le centre-ville: 475 M$ ou 575 M$ (p.87)
Amenager une gare desservant le site Outremont-Universite de Montreal: 2 M$ (p.90)
Permettre a la ligne Saint-Jerome-Montreal d'utiliser le tunnel sous le Mont Royal: 50 M$ (p.90)
Total spending, Metro: 3 872 M$ (p.92)
Total spending, Tramway: 985 M$ (p.92)
Total spending, Train: 898 M$ (p.92)
Total spending, Bus: 474 M$ (p.92)

Doubler le reseau cyclable: 50 M$ (p.113)
Proceder a une mise aux normes du reseau cyclable actuel: 23 M$
Implanter un systeme de velos en libre-service: 15 M$
Quintupler le nombre de place de stationnements pour velos: 43 M$
Equiper les autobus de la STM et les taxis de support a velo: 3 M$
Total spending, velo: 134 M$

Reamenager le complexe Turcot: 1 500 M$ (p.136)
Moderniser la rue Notre-Dame: 750 M$ (p.137)
Total spending, routiers: 2912 M$

Besoins financiers moyennes annuels pour les 21 chantiers pour 20 ans: 515 M$ (p.185)

Tableux completes: p.192-8

Edit: Added link to report.

 Hello!

I am a Winnipeg university student planning to spend the summer in your lovely city and I have three questions for you.

I've found an apartment on the Plateau, off de Bullion. Can anyone tell me about this area? I hear it's a wonderful culture centre. I'm wondering specifically about things like safety (walking home from the Metro alone after dark, yes or no?), transit access, locations to frequent, or to avoid, etc.

Also, job hunting. My first language is English. I do speak some French, but I'm quite rusty. I want to improve my French, and if my job can help me do that, awesome, but if I were thrown into a situation where fluent French was required, I would be in trouble. :-P Can anyone recommend some good resources to check out? I've glanced at sites like monster.ca and working.ca, but they seem to be geared towards people who are looking for a very specific sort of job, not just a general summer job. Retail, childcare, barista-ry, etc are more the sort of jobs I'm looking for. I've been told by Montréal friends that call centres are always the last bastion of Anglo job-seekers, but as I've worked in one for two years, I'd prefer to not do that. Also, if anyone knows of a specific place that will be hiring in mid-May that they can let me know about, that's great too!

Also, I'm moderately visually impaired. Mobility (using transit, reading street signs, etc) isn't usually too much trouble for me, but I am unable to drive. I have a CNIB card, and in Winnipeg this enables me to use public transit for free. Does anyone know if Montréal does the same?

Thanks! (I hope that I've used the tags properly, I've never used them before. If I need to fix them, please let me know).

Hi

I purchase the 3 zone $105 stm pass each month.

This month i am flying out on April 25 and Will be back May 5.

Do you know when they start selling the 3 zone pass for May?

Can I buy it on April 25?

thanks.


I rather not buy it on may 5 cus then I would have to pay $2.75 for bussing me to the store to get it.  I don't live within walking distance =( 

So it looks like STM is introducing the new fare cards this coming week, according to a few articles I've read. They have a lovely, modern site (compared with the 1990s-era main STM website) explaining how to use the cards and where to buy them.

Unfortunately, it looks like these cards are not the new smart cards that are the main feature of the new ticketing system. The cards with the wireless chip in them, that are reloadable with the value of a CAM monthly pass or weekly pass, will be coming this fall. The cards they are introducing this month and next actually have to be inserted into the turnstiles or fare boxes in the buses, and the date and time will be printed on the back. You can load up one card with the value of one to six tickets, or can buy six cards with one fare each, if you need to give fares to family members, etc.

http://www.billetsalacarte.info

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A bus burned at Lionel Groulx Metro (soon to be Oscar Peterson metro, hopefully).

Colour me WTF???

Does anyone know on what schedule the 211 INTO town is on for tomorrow?

In the past week, I've had to wait for the bus for over an hour twice, and for about 30 minutes once. Usually, it's pretty good but an HOUR? It wasn't even snowing! What the hell is going on here, Don Knotts?

Are there any cheap buses or trains from Montreal to Ottawa (and back)?

By "cheap" I mean cheaper than greyhound.

 

the 121 bus didn't show up today.  coming and going



will it show up tomorrow so I can get to work?




what are the chances the bus in general won't show up tomorrow? 



*i called the automated STM phoneline that says the next 3 busses are coming at:
-they said that there are no busses in the west side but east side gradually had busses.  
-what is the west side?  I live in st laurent...way west..so no busses?

-but when i called the thing still gave me the times for the next 3 busses coming.?  so there are busses? did they mean west island?

bon matin,
je suis arrivée à l'arrêt du bus 161 Ouest, coin côte-des-neiges et van horne, à 8h25 ce matin. à 8h35, le bus, qui est normallement aux 6 minutes, n'avait pas encore passé. ne voulant pas être en retard au travail, j'ai marché jusqu'à la station plamondon, me disant que ça serait moins long et plus efficace que d'attendre encore le bus. heure d'arrivée: 8h45. la file de gens qui attendent le 161 au métro plamondon, qui se rend au coin de la rue victoria d'habitude, continuait sur victoria et se retournait encore le long de la station. pendant ces 20 minutes, le bus, qui aurait dû passer au moins 2 fois, n'est jamais arrivé.
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je vous encourage fortement à leur écrire à commentaires@stm.info si vous avez une plainte à formuler. c'est bien beau de se plaindre ici, mais ça ne se rend pas jusqu'aux responsables.

également sur mtl_transit

#1) The back of the bus is not evil. Going there will not make you a bad person. I'm assuming the only reason you won't go there is because as a kid, you were traumatized by the bullies who sat at the back of school busses and now you have this ingrained "fear of the rear" so to speak. Well get over it. Watching a bus drive by when it feels like -30c outside doesn't leave me feeling very sympathetic for your cowardice.

#2) Busses are not very long vehicles. It only takes a few seconds to walk from one end to the other. So, you REALLY don't have to force your way to the door furthest from you just because it saves a few steps to the metro entrance. Instead of wasting effort navigating through the sardine can, swim to freedom to the bus door that's closest to you.

#3) Busses can get very hot when 80 people are on board (or 40, depending on the number of cowards). Wear deodorant. The stench a human being is capable of producing can be outrageous sometimes, and in close quarters, it really, really sucks to have to smell you first thing in the morning. And please, don't try to mask your horrible odors by drowning yourself in cologne or purfume since it creates the same suffocating effect. It's like comparing frost bite to a burn, same shit, different extremes.

#4) Instead of being a dick, step outside when someone is trying to get off. You will be able to get back in regardless if you're in the back (at least for low floor busses) or the front. Standing in the way of someone's freedom makes you a fascist. Are you a fascist? The burden of proof is on you.

Dear teenagers who shoved on the back of the bus yesterday, nearly knocking someone over,
I actually understand the necessity of occasionally pushing your way on through the back of the bus. I have in fact, been forced to do it on condition. However, it is common courtesy to wait until those who are getting off actually descend from the bus first before you shove your way on, practically causing them to lose their balance and miss their stop. When the person in question says "can I get off first?", do not answer "NO" in a rude tone. Simply step aside and allow her to descend before you get on. That person might even be nice enough to hold the door for you if you're lucky.
Again, I completely understand that the weather is cold, that there was a good sized group of you getting on, that you probably waited a long time for this bus and that the next bus doesn't come for 35-40 minutes. I also understand that you are teenagers and probably still in a bit of the selfish phase. However, all I ask is for a little consideration when you do push your way on, to at least wait until people get off and not give them attitude.

No love,
me.

(This happened on the 104 yesterday, heading east from Cote-St-Luc to downtown, at the stop on Cavendish and St-Jacques. The person getting off the bus was not me, but rather another young lady, I was simply an innocent bystander who was highly disturbed by everything. I have shoved on the back of the bus before too, but it never even crossed my mind to do so before those getting off did).

it's not just us.

( gazette article on the subject from jan. 31 )

...and it's not bad news, for once:

Gazette:

Threat of transit strike over

The threat of a transit strike appears to be over following an agreement to send a contract dispute to arbitration.

---

Le Devoir (réservé aux abonnés):

Grève évitée à la STM

Les chauffeurs acceptent l'arbitrage

La menace de grève des chauffeurs d'autobus et des opérateurs de métro de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) est maintenant écartée. Le syndicat a accepté hier l'arbitrage recommandé par le conciliateur. C'est donc l'arbitre qui devra trancher la question salariale qui divisait les deux parties.

I have never experienced this type of weather being from vancouver.

How do u think the bus and metro  is? I need to take bus/ metro/ bus.. would it be okay?

should i leave work early?

 or is it no big deal everyone is used to it

can we all just take a moment to discuss how irritating it is when there is a huge lineup for a bus (thanks STM for not coming at all close to "every 6 minutes") and people behind you in line decide to get onto the bus through the back doors? i know it's 8 in the morning- gee, you must be in a hurry! i bet you have somewhere really important to be, like work or school. guess what? so does fucking everyone else who is waiting for the bus at 8 AM! and since when the bus finally arrives it's always 95% full, this means that your getting on the bus is going to make me have to wait for the next one. which will probably be another 10 minutes. and when i finally do get on the bus, people like you are going to make the bus even more uncomfortable by rudely pushing your way in even if there is ZERO SPACE FOR YOU TO BE, not to mention holding up the bus so that it takes 25 minutes for the 535 to get from bernard to prince-arthur. can you for real stop doing that? it's really rude. thanks!

Maybe it's just me, but after having stood outside for close to 40 minutes for the 535, only THREE busses came. Two were too packed, the third couldn't take everyone.

Now, I know the bus drivers want to strike because the city is run by a bunch of fucking morons (if you don't know, the drivers and the STM settled their differences, only for the city to step in and said that they didn't, akin to a teacher telling kids who resolved a fight on their own that their resolution sucks, keep fighting), and I know that, at least some point in the past few months, there were pressure tactics going on by the mechanics union.

so, is service getting worse or am I getting angrier and letting it affect my perception of what's really going on?

Hi there. I've got a job at Concordia - Loyola Campus, so I'm coming up this week for a couple days to go apartment hunting (I'm looking mainly NDG area so I can be close to work - any other recommendations?).

Just a quick question - I still have metro tickets from November (when I went up to interview), even though they have 2007 on them, are they still good? couldn't find anything on their site.

I think that's it for me right now - the tags and memories have given me so much info. I do have a friend who is also moving up there too. She's primarily going to get involved with modern dance, but does hold a teaching certificate in Ontario and is hoping to get in as a substitute teacher with the English board there. Do any of you have any info about how difficult that is, etc? She's already contacted places to get certified in Quebec, but just wondering if she really shouldn't have too high hopes of becoming a substitute (her teachables are math and science though - which are always in demand, right?).

Oh and we're both swing dancers too, so it's good to see some dancers on here! :-)

So I'ved got to get to work at about 8:45 in laval.

I am taking bus 121 from cote vertu to sauve station..then metro up to montmorency...then the 65 bus in laval


I was just wondering how the traffic would be like.  Can I follow the bus schedule for bus 121?  or  is the  traffic so bad in the morning you have to add 40 minutes to the schedule.

and when it really snows, do I  have to add an extra hour in general?  not necessary my route 




I live in vancouver and the buses pretty much always followed the schedule.  But when it did snow you it took about 2 hours longer to travel.


thanks

 
Hi

I will be working on Laval for 4-8 mths...and hopefully I can extend my contract to 12 mths.
I am working at 2000, Cunard Street, Laval. 
I have bolded my questions....to help with my post that has a lot of writing in it

I have been having difficulty looking for a 1 1/2 studio in the right location to get to Laval from Montreal.  when I look at the map, NDG and downtown montreal look too far.  I work from 8 30 to 5 00 so during winter it's very dark and I don't want to walk alone at night being a girl and all. 

( Read more... )

 

STM press release:

Métro service increase of 26%

Thus, beginning January 7, 2008, the STM will provide an average of 26% more service than in 2006 on the métro’s 1, 2 and 5 lines, mainly during off-peak periods. ...

More in the Gazette story. Some bus routes will get more service, and the STM will also slightly raise the price of passes and ticket strips. The cash fare will stay at $2.75.

---

Communiqué en français:

Service dans le métro accru de 26 %

Ainsi, à compter du 7 janvier 2008, la STM offrira en moyenne 26 % plus de service qu’en 2006 sur les lignes 1, 2 et 5 du métro et ce, principalement en dehors des heures de pointe. ...