Earlier this month, we asked if the STM’s recent service improvements were actually cutbacks in disguise, pointing to an investigation by blogger Steve Faguy that revealed that, even though weekday bus service on three important routes has been increased, weekend service has been cut.
In today’s Gazette, Faguy asks STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette about these cutbacks. Here’s what she had to say:
Gazette: Three of the city’s bus lines (18 Beaubien, 24 Sherbrooke and 121 Sauvé/Côte Vertu) have improved service on weekdays, but fewer departures at some other times compared with the fall schedule. Why?
Rouette: The service improvements on these three lines is only for weekdays, to deal with rush-hour crowds. We don’t have these problems on the weekends. The reduction in service during the weekend (compared to the fall schedule) is a normal, seasonal change. It was the same last year in the winter. We change schedules for all buses four times a year to adjust for seasonal differences in demand.
Gazette: Why not improve service on the weekends for people who work on those days?
Rouette: At each schedule change, we look at the weekend offering, and we adjust based on customer demand. The 24 line, for example, mostly serves business workers, so fewer people take it during the weekend. There will be about 14 hours less service on the weekend for those three lines, but we’re adding over 115 hours of service to those lines during the week.
So cutting weekend bus service in the winter is, at least according to the STM, a perfectly normal course of action. Still, wouldn’t it make more sense to maintain weekend frequencies even during slow times of the year, if only to give people the option of taking transit when they normally wouldn’t? Rouette is right that the 24 Sherbrooke route is not particularly busy in the evenings and weekends, but maybe that’s because its service is so lousy at those times; a self-perpetuating cycle, in other words.
Whatever the case, transit users should remain vigilant to make sure that weekend bus service is restored in the spring and summer.
Bus shelter photo by Kate McDonnell
7 comments
I’ve been reading the articles regarding the new STM schedules with a keen interest, especially because I am a daily user of the 24 bus line.
The STM’s decision to add more buses for the rush hour is a good idea. Even now with the added buses, if you take the 24 between four and six you’ll see that the buses fill up to capacity. The demand is huge. What I’d really like to see though is a special lane reserved for buses on Sherbrooke during rush hour. Currently, one of the most frustrating aspects of taking the 24 is the ridiculous traffic on the street; combining this with the bus’ frequent stops to drop off and pick up passengers, as well as the frequent red lights, and taking the bus ends up only slightly fasted than walking. It’s wonder so many people still take the bus.
Of course the feasibility of such a proposal is difficult. With the possible exception of east of Sherbrooke Metro station, widening the road is impossible. I know that reserving one of the existing lines for buses would not be welcomed by car and truck drivers, but I think if the STM wished to really increase its ridership, and Montrealers in general wish to create a more environmentally sustainable city, this would be the kind of bold move necessary.
I’m sure the same could be said for a number of other avenues that I’m not as familiar with.
Also, regarding the question of less service on weekends during the winter months, to me this makes no sense. The number of buses should increase across the board in winter. People are more reliant on public transportation in the winter than in the warmer months, and the bus schedules should reflect this fact.
I find the 24 ridiculously slow. When I was biking east on Sherbrooke, starting at McGill University, I often passed two 24s before reaching the 24’s terminus near Prefontaine. And that’s less than half of the 24’s length.
Emmanual: I’m curious about why you take the 24 rather than the metro? I could see it making sense if you got off near Frontenac, where Sherbrooke gets pretty far from the green line, but otherwise it usually tends to be pretty close.
Great point. What is the STM’s assumption, that people go out less during the weekends when it’s cold? I think it’s great that our representatives in the press or government or NGO’s keep the STM’s feet to the fire, but the real problem is a lack of budget. I’m sure if they had the money, they would be adding buses and lines where they are needed. Wasn’t the federal government supposed to inject a bunch of public transport money into cities? What happened to that?
Myself and my wife try to be habitual users of the 24 in off-peak periods, especially weekends to try and break oursleves of car dependence. Howver, we are defeated by the lousy frequency. After 1900 hours there is no point in trying for a 24. They are too infrequent. The same applies to weekends.
The attitude of the STM that your interview shows appals me. Obviously they have no notion that they are in the business of competing for ridership, either through inducing demand, or taking it from cars. They see themselves as a simple public service monopoly, like water. I suppose the organisation essentially runs itself on auto-pilot, waking up now and then to send out a tow truck to yet another broken down bus.
Why can it it not be privatized? Give the private setor those routes where demand can be generated by service improvement and leave the STM with providing minimal basic service to those who have no choices.
Actually, privatizing public transports would probably give us access to better services on the most used lines (whether metro lines such as the green and orange ones in the downtown area, or busy bus lines like the 24 and the 165) because they would be “profitable”, but what about the less used lines, such as the blue metro line and buses such as the 119 or the 166, wich would probably see even more decrease in services (if not to be totally shut down) as they would probably be a cause of monetary losses instead of gains.
Though I admit that the STM truly has to wake up and shake itself, first the employees have to much strike liberties and public transports should be made an essential service, and the leaders should really seek ways to improve service, maybe transferring buses from less busy lines (you know, those buses you take that are always empty) to the more critic ones.
I take the bus because it stops right outside my apartment and this is far more convenient for me than to walk twelve minutes to Papineau metro station (where I still have to wait for the metro). The thing that’s great about the bus, and the STM deserves the credit here, is that the 24 really does adhere to its published schedule. If the schedule says the bus will arrive at 9:33, it usually really is. By taking the bus I waste little time walking and waiting, and can therefore read while I ride.
STM buses are a joke! Yesterday I waited 25 minutes on Avenue du parc for the 535 and this was at rush hour (every 6 minutes or less) Today I waited 15 minutes and gave up and walked. Not only do the buses not come..but when they do they are too full to get on. If two or three people get off the back door, the driver allows others at the back of the line to get on the back door, filling up the bus. No one from the front can move back and no one who has waited patiently in line can get on at the front.
This system is chaos. You can’t count on it at all. NO respect for schedules. No respect for people waiting in line. We pay a lot for no service. I’m going to buy a car and pollute the world like everybody else!