Alerts for adapted transit users, end-of-month payments in STM’s future
Some users of Montreal’s increasingly popular public transit system may soon get alerts on their phones telling when their lifts are about to arrive, and others could be able to pay at the end of the month based on how often they’ve travelled. That growth in Métro usage, which went up 5.5 per cent since the beginning of 2018, is causing issues on the city’s overcrowded Orange Line, the chairman of the Société de transport de Montréal conceded Thursday during a presentation of the STM’s budget to the city’s finance committee. “The métro is a closed environment, so at a certain point you’re going to get to a point of saturation, and we have to think of other tools, or other modes,” Philippe Schnobb said. “Take a métro at 8:15 on the Orange Line and the conclusion is clear.” The addition of a parking garage for 10 trains at the Côte Vertu station will help by increasing the number of trains in the system, allowing pickups every two minutes. Other solutions include creating more surface transport alternatives, like express bus lanes. Or a new Pink Line for the métro system to alleviate pressure on current lines. “We have to continue with the reflection, define the parameters to make a good decision, and have all the data needed” before making that decision, Schnobb said. To decrease the number of service interruptions, the STM is trying an awareness campaign over its public address system to advise users not to block doors or drop objects onto the tracks. It will also try new security barriers on the Orange Line so people can’t go down into the tunnels. The discovery of a man in the tunnel early Wednesday morning caused a slowdown affecting 40,000 commuters who use the line each morning. Among other innovations noted at Thursday’s presentation:
Getting a little Extra: The STM is working on a system for the Extra Connecte adapted transit system that will allow its limited-mobility users to receive alerts at home or on their smartphones 10 minutes before their lift is to arrive. The Extra network was used for more than four million rides in 2018, a number expected to grow due to the aging population, but long waits are a common complaint. Phone alerts will mean users don’t have to wait fully dressed by the front door for long periods, said Renée Amilcar, executive director of bus services for the STM. All of the system’s 82 adapted buses and a third of the taxis serving the system have GPS devices that allow real-time tracking of the vehicles. The STM is hoping to equip all 1,500 taxis in the system with the devices by September 2019.
Ride now, pay later: While some cities’ transit systems, including Laval’s, allow on-board payment by credit card, the fact that Montreal’s public transit system interconnects with many others, as well as with the suburban commuter train system, makes it too complicated to incorporate credit cards. Instead, the STM is experimenting to see if specialized OPUS cards can be tracked on all the systems and reliably gather data on how much they’re used. Roughly 400 employees are currently testing the cards. If it works, Montreal could soon develop a system where users could be billed by their usage, and sent a bill afterwards, instead of having to pay up front. Schnobb said he is hoping the system will be in use by the end of his mandate in 2021. Also at Thursday’s meeting, city councillor and committee member Richard Guay had to apologize after commenting that his colleague, Lisa Christensen, the host of CJAD Radio’s Car Show, expressed very impressive technical knowledge “for a woman.” Guay, who works alongside Christensen as a councillor in Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, said the two regularly talk about cars because they are both mechanics by training, and he meant to explain to STM board members who appeared surprised by the depth of her questions, but his remarks were “very clumsy,” he said. Christensen accepted the apology.