One price for all modes of transport in ARTM’S proposed fare overhaul
It will cost the same to ride the future Réseau express métropolitain as it will to ride a bus, métro or commuter train.
That was one of the take-aways from a new simplified fare structure proposed by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, the Montreal region’s public transit governing body.
On Thursday, the ARTM unveiled the fruit of three years of work to simplify an antiquated and confusing fare structure, splitting the region into just four zones — down from the current eight — and paring down 750 transit fares to just 100.
The new fare structure would mean just one fare for each of the four regions, no matter what the mode of transportation: bus, métro, commuter train or the REM, a driverless electric train network under construction and expected to come online between 2021 and 2024.
The system proposes these monthly fares:
Zone 1, Montreal: $90 for in-zone travel, various rates for other travel
Zone 2, Laval and Longueuil: $100 for in-zone travel, $144 to Zone 1
Zone 3, North and South Shore (excluding Laval, Longueuil): $100 for in-zone travel, $176 to Zone 1
Zone 4: Outside ARTM area: $100 for in-zone travel, $245 to Montreal
That would mean a transit user in Beaconsfield would pay the same amount for their monthly pass to take the Exo commuter train downtown as someone from St-léonard who takes the bus and métro. There would be a premium for anyone who travels outside their zones.
The proposal was greeted with a mixed reaction from transit lobby groups.
François Pépin, president of Trajectoire Québec, said the proposal would make it much simpler to take the commuter train in the region, as users wouldn’t have to bother with complicated zones that appear to be arbitrary.
“It’s good news for which we have been waiting a long time,” Pépin said.
“The current system is very complicated: it cuts some cities in half and puts them in different zones and has widely different fares whether people take the bus, train or métro.”
However, a users group for the South Shore denounced the idea that it would cost people in Brossard (which falls in the Longueuil territory) more to ride the REM than users in the West Island, for example.
“A ride from Brossard to Central Station is only 15 kilometres; from Kirkland to Central Station, it is a 30-kilometre ride,” Jean-michel Laliberté, a spokesperson for the Association pour le transport collectif de la Rive-sud, said in a written statement. “It is illogical to reduce fares down to $90 in Kirkland, while increasing them up to $144 in Brossard.”
Pépin agreed that Brossard residents will be hit the hardest, but pointed out that for many people there are reductions in the fares they will pay.
“There are definitely winners and losers; for Brossard, it will go from $102 to take the bus to Montreal, to $144 to take the REM,” Pépin said. “We’re asking the ARTM to phase this in gradually and have attenuation measures to help people who will be hit hard by this change.”
The work by the planning body that oversees local transit agencies, including the Société de transport de Montréal, Exo and the Réseau de transport de Longueuil, began three years ago, and followed a wide public consultation process.
It was presented to reporters during a virtual news conference Thursday and will be the subject of public consultations in the coming weeks.
“The goal is to make it easier for transit users, and we hope it will encourage more people to take transit,” said Daniel Bergeron, executive director for planning for the ARTM.
If approved by the government by December, the system could be in place starting in July in the Zone 3 area. It would take another three years to fully roll out the new fare structure, Bergeron said.
The goal is for the system to come online around the same time as the REM is rolled out, as it would be part of the same fare structure, Bergeron said.
He added that the new fare system could be put in place using existing technology, such as OPUS. However, the ARTM is also studying a way to rid itself of the much-criticized smart-card technology to allow users to pay their fares with credit cards or using contactless payments on their phones. A pilot project has been underway in Laval for several years.
The transit authority recently announced that contactless bus tickets would be available on the Chrono and Transit mobile apps, in response to demand for a contactless form of payment during the pandemic. Once the ticket is activated, users must show the screen of their phone to the bus driver before boarding. This is a temporary measure in place until Jan. 31.
Bergeron said the ARTM hopes the technological solutions will be in place over the next year or so, at the same time as the new fare structure.
The goal is to make it easier for transit users, and we hope it will encourage more people to take transit.