Things are a-happenin’ at the STM, Montreal’s most dramatic transit agency. Here’s a round-up of stories from the past few days.
You are being watched: Yesterday, the federal government dished out $6.5 million to transit agencies in Quebec, more than half of which will go to the STM. This money will be used to install 500 more security cameras in the metro system. The transit agency assures us that, for the most part, the cameras are not used to spy on transit users but to reconstruct events after they have already occurred.
Drive for public transit: In a surprisingly smart move, the STM has teamed up with Communauto to offer transit users a discount on the popular car sharing service, the largest in North America. By signing a contract agreeing to purchase a year’s worth of metro passes—which would be mailed directly to your home, after their cost has been debited from your bank account—you would be eligible to sign up for Communauto without shelling out for the normal $500 deposit. Find out more at Communauto’s website.
There’s a storm ahead: It’s been more than a year since their contract expired and bus drivers are getting angsty. Negotations between the drivers’ union and the STM are still stalled; yesterday, drivers occupied the Saint Denis bus garage in protest. It seems likely that we’re heading towards yet another transit strike just one year after the last one (which latest, admittedly, just two days), and you can already hear the grumbling. In last Friday’s La Presse, though, Nathalie Couillard makes the case against declaring public transit an essential service, which would prevent STM workers from striking.
What will happen next? Will management and the bus drivers make up? Will transit users fall for Communauto? Will the new security cameras spot something naughty? Find out soon on Soap Opera STM.
8 comments
That’s bullshit that they’re not watching people. My friend and I set up a camera in a Metro station to do some interviews, we hardly had the camera on the tripod before a security guard came and told us we’re not allowed to film without a permit. We asked him how he was so fast on a weekend evening and he said they saw us on the security cameras and radioed him to stop us.
How about having a metro pass subscription service for people who DON’T want to sign up for Communauto? I’d love to skip the monthly errand of buying a pass and get it mailed to my house.
Michelle, I could have sworn that the STM already offered that option, but I can’t find anything about it on their website. Maybe it was scrapped a few years ago?
I’d like to see a subscription service for STM passes too! There are some cities where, if you pay in full for 12 months at the beginning of the year, you get a discount.
Why not here?
Commuters using suburban train or bus lines can subscribe to get their TRAM cards (which covers bus, train and metro from Montreal up until a certain area). Subscriptions can be monthly or annually. More information is available through the Agence de transport de Montréal website:
http://www.amt.qc.ca/tc/tarifs/abonnements/index.asp
I agree that the STM should do the same, especially if they’re already doing so through Communauto. I’ve sent them an e-mail telling them to that effect. You can do the same:
http://www.stm.info/english/comment/a-index.htm
Yes there was a subscription service that was offered by the STM back in 2002 or so. If I remember correctly there was an option for paying for the full year and getting a discount. There must not of been a lot of people using this and I guess they stopped it. Or the cards in the mail were being stolen…I don’t know what ever happened.
The AMT has a subscription service.
Monthly:
http://www.amt.qc.ca/tc/tarifs/abonnements/abonnements_mensuel.asp
Annually (12 passes for the price of 11):
http://www.amt.qc.ca/tc/tarifs/abonnements/abonnements_annuel.asp
Not sure which types of TRAM passes are available. This service will continue to be available when the new payment system starts up soon.
It doesn’t matter what you claim you will do with your cameras they are offensive and unwelcome. We are adults, we are free people and we are not afraid of taking a bus for Christ Sake. This is the last straw. Your drivers are assholes plain and simple, your buses are crowed and uncomfortable, your metro is ancient and filthy and now have undertaken to invade our privacy in a way that is deplorably Orwellian. This has to go.
YOU the people running this city are afraid but the population is paying for your delusional fear and that is giving you the benefit of the doubt. We are not your property and we do NOT want ourselves and our families taped by your creepy cam system every time we go somewhere. In addition this targets again the poorer people in our society who do not have cars. we have no choice. Shall we come to your homes and film you on your trip to work and home everyday following you and recording everything that you do? Shall we?