I hopped on board the new 515 Vieux-Montréal/Vieux-Port bus today before work. The new bus route is part of a number of changes that were made as the STM introduced its summer schedule on Monday.

The trip, which goes in a circle from Berri metro down to St. Laurent and de la Commune to Peel and up to René-Lévesque, took about 20 minutes, with most of the delays due to traffic (it was the afternoon of St. Jean Baptiste day, so traffic in Old Montreal was probably higher than normal).

The fact that it was only the bus’s second day of service explained a few of the kinks that still need to be worked out, which probably led to the fact that I was the only person on board the bus for the entire trip:

1. Traffic. Especially in areas around Notre Dame, Saint-Laurent and de la Commune. The eventual idea is to make de la Commune no-parking and install reserved bus lanes. There is currently one that runs for a few blocks in the western part (where it’s pointless), and it needs to be extended back eastward. The turns at Saint-Laurent and de la Commune are particularly difficult for a 40-foot bus to try and maneuvre.
2. Confusion. Unlike most STM buses, this one runs in a circular route. In both directions. In such a situation, trying to say what the destination of each direction is becomes difficult, because both directions will eventually get you there. Both eastbound and westbound stops on de la Commune, for example, could say they’re in the direction of downtown, because they are. It’s just one goes up Berri and the other goes up Peel. The confusion is made even moreso by situations like in the photo below where buses in both directions stop at the same stop. So riders have no clue whether the bus they’re getting on is going in the direction they want it to.

You’ll also note the signs have yellow backgrounds. The STM is still trying to figure out what to do with that colour. Once upon a time, they were used to denote special senior’s routes in the west end, until that pilot project was cancelled due to suckage. Then it was used for special shuttles. Now they just use it for any route they think is cool. But it gives the impression that this route is strange in some way, like it needs a special fare or something.

Despite its problems though, I believe in this bus. Old Montreal is woefully underserved by public transit, and the metro is too far to reach everywhere by foot. A bus which runs every 10 minutes will be useful not just to tourists visiting the Old Port, but to residents who want to get downtown quickly.

See also:

• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• June 4, 2008 — Old Port bus coming
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit

The Agence Métropolitaine de Transport has put out tenders seeking operators for two new bus routes it is planning. The first links the Vaudreuil train station on the Montreal-Dorion/Rigaud line to the Côte-Vertu metro station along highway 40, to start service in September.

Departures would be Mondays to Fridays (excluding holidays) on the following schedule

Eastbound: 5:35, 6:00, 6:25, 6:50, 7:15, 7:40, 8:05, 8:30, 8:55
15:50, 16:20, 16:50, 17:20, 17:50, 18:20

Westbound: 6:10, 6:35, 7:00, 7:25, 7:50, 8:15
15:10, 15:40, 16:10, 16:40, 17:10, 17:40, 18:10, 18:40, 19:10

Estimated travel time is 35 minutes eastbound and 40 minutes westbound. The only stop between the two terminuses would be at Côte-Vertu and Beaulac.

The other one links the Panama bus terminus and Chevrier park-and-ride lot to Nuns’ Island (specifically, the new Bell campus at the northern tip of the island) by the Champlain bridge. It would start in August.

Departures are Mondays to Fridays (excluding holidays) as follows:

Toward Nuns’ Island (travel time: 23 minutes): 6:00, 6:20, 6:40, 7:00, 7:20, 7:40, 8:00, 8:20, 8:40
14:45, 15:05, 15:25, 15:45, 16:05, 16:25, 16:45, 17:05, 17:25

Toward Chevrier (travel time: 20 minutes): 6:25, 6:45, 7:05, 7:25, 7:45, 8:05, 8:25, 8:45, 9:05
15:00, 15:20, 15:40, 16:00, 16:20, 16:40, 17:00, 17:20, 17:40, 18:10

Both routes are suburb-to-suburb routes which represent an exodus from the hub-and-spoke system that defines rush-hour transit currently.

The AMT’s contract stipulations are also fun to read. They cover things like making sure the buses have wheelchair access and will be air-conditioned (by Jan. 1, 2009) to ensuring that drivers make eye contact when passengers board.

(via metrodemontreal and CPTDB)

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• June 4, 2008 — Old Port bus coming

Nice to know that a devastating attack on the Montreal metro system which hasn’t happened yet is already being blamed on a massive government conspiracy involving the CIA.

See also:

• May 28, 2008 — The reds are marching
• May 27, 2008 — Georges-Vanier metro closes for summer
• May 12, 2008 — Metrovision at Bonaventure station

The following bus routes will be extended to full-day service (meaning Monday to Friday, excluding holidays, during morning and afternoon rush hours and the time between them) at 20-minutes-or-less intervals from about 6am to about 6:30pm:

• 159 Métrobus Henri-Bourassa
• 173 Métrobus Victoria (last eastbound bus at 2:50pm)
• 199 Métrobus Lacordaire (off-peak takes a shortened route along only Lacordaire Blvd.)

The following bus routes will move to a one-direction-until-noon, another-direction-after-noon schedule, with 20-minute intervals off-peak, until about 6:30pm:

• 190 Métrobus Lachine: Eastbound departures until noon, westbound departures start at noon.
• 420 Express Notre-Dame-de-Grâce: Eastbound until noon, westbound after noon.
• 430 Express Pointe-aux-Trembles: Westbound until noon, eastbound after noon.

Other changes:

• 11 Montagne will have added service in the evenings to coincide with the opening hours of Mount Royal Park. Service will now run until midnight instead of 9pm. However, the western part of the route after 9 will go to Côte-des-Neiges and Queen Mary instead of up Ridgewood, which is kind of silly since the 166 detours up Ridgewood after 9pm. Why not just keep both on their original routes and save everyone the confusion?
• 210 John Abbott ceases to become a seasonal bus linked to John Abbott’s schedule, and gains all-day weekday status. It will have a 25-minute interval between 6:10am and 5:45pm westbound, and 6:45pm and 6:20pm eastbound. Its route will also be modified to take Sainte-Marie Rd. straight from Highway 40 instead of continuing to Morgan Rd.
• 219 Chemin Sainte-Marie loses a loop on Sainte-Marie west of Morgan Rd. to EMS Technologies near Meloche.
• 268 Trainbus Pierrefonds undergoes a radical change to both route and schedule: The route will be extended up Grenet St. to the Côte-Vertu metro station in both directions. Eastbound departures continue every half hour until 3:50pm, and westbound departures from Côte-Vertu are every half hour from 8am to 5:45pm (more frequently during the afternoon rush hour)
• 505 R-Bus Pie-IX becomes 505 Express Pie-IX, which better reflects its role not as a rush-hour reserved-lane replacement for the 139 bus, but a limited-stop express bus that acts as a second option during rush hours.
• 515 Vieux-Montréal/Vieux-Port is a new shuttle between Dorchester Square, Berri metro (and the Station Centrale bus terminal), and de la Commune St. The circular route - in both directions simultaneously - takes René-Lévesque, Peel, de la Commune and Berri/St. Denis. Departures are every 13 minutes (10 minutes during weekend afternoons, 20 minutes in the late evenings), seven days a week from 7am to 1am.

Other changes, such as the 480 on Nuns’ Island and weekend service on the 470 Express Pierrefonds, will come in September.

Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments. I haven’t found anything yet on the Old Port bus that’s supposed to come.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit
• May 14, 2008 — Some details of STM bus service improvements

I have no clue how they managed to get that GAZETTE EXCLUSIVE … I mean, unless they read my blog post a month ago saying there would be a new bus (No. 515) along reserved lanes linking Old Montreal and Berri-UQAM.

The route comes into service on June 23 (when summer schedules come into effect), and is expected to be eventually replaced by a tramway. The route is a circular one, running along René-Lévesque, Peel, de la Commune and Berri.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 23, 2008 — AMT planning new express routes
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday

LCN has a video report this week, and the Journal de Chambly had an article in April, about the AMT’s dream plans for new commuter trains. The agency is deep in the planning process for the “Train de l’Est” which would run to Repentigny and Mascouche. But they’re also thinking of trains to Beauharnois (through Chateauguay), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (via the existing Delson/Candiac line) and Marieville (through St-Lambert on the St-Hilaire line).

These other routes are still in the “I have a dream” stage, but they provide some insight into the minds of planners at the AMT.

The matter was also brought up at the National Assembly in April during a meeting of its transportation and environment committee.

See also:

• June 23, 2008 — AMT planning new express routes
• January 9, 2008 — AMT commuter train schedules on Google Transit
• December 24, 2007 — Your guide to holiday transit service

The Georges-Vanier metro station will be entirely closed this summer (June 2 to Sept.5) as the STM demolishes and reconstructs parts of the station inside and outside (STM !NFO PDF). In its place, a shuttle between Lionel-Groulx and Lucien-L’Allier (or a few blocks from Lucien-L’Allier anyway) will run every 10 minutes from the opening to closing of the metro. Trains will slow down through the station but won’t let anyone off there.

See also:

• June 19, 2008 — We will not believe you
• May 28, 2008 — The reds are marching
• May 12, 2008 — Metrovision at Bonaventure station

This bus, recently spotted along St. Denis, belongs to the Quebec Public Transit Heritage Foundation (Fondation l’héritage du transport en commun du Québec), which restores retired public transit buses. If you see a bus of this model (the so-called “New Look” or “fishbowl” buses), chances are it belongs to that group.

See also:

• No related posts

Last week, I went to a public consultation of the STM in Côte-des-Neiges, hoping there would be some interesting developments to report about transit improvements to the area (and Montreal in general). I figured that even if the presentation was a bust, some of the questions from the public would spark interesting answers.

Naturally, I was disappointed.

But perhaps I’m being unfair calling them stupid questions. Because many of them weren’t questions.

Instead, they were 10-minute diatribes about how someone was late to work one morning and the bus didn’t show up that one time, or general demands for things the representatives there were obviously powerless to do anything about. Other demands seemed illogical or contradictory. Few of them were useful.

The meeting gave me quite a bit more respect for Marvin Rotrand, a city councillor and vice-president of the STM, who has to sit through these kinds of meetings on a regular basis, and clearly recognized many of the people he called up to speak as people who regularly take advantage of opportunities to speak their minds.

Still, some interesting tidbits did emerge from the hours-long meeting:

• Starting next month, service on the 11 Montagne route will be extended to midnight from its current 9pm daily, since services on the mountain are open until midnight. The bigger problem of buses unable to climb the steep Ridgewood Ave. during winter will hopefully be solved in the future by improvements to the buses.
• Service on the 103 Monkland will be improved outside of rush hour starting in September.
• More Abribus bus shelters are being installed on the network in NDG/Côte-des-Neiges, to bring the ratio from 37% to 40% of stops.
• Hampstead Mayor Bill Steinberg was particularly concerned about the 51 Boulevard Edouard-Montpetit bus route because he says it has a tendency to block the intersection of Queen Mary and Ellerdale (I’ve taken the bus through there many times and never seen it happen, but whatever). He wants it rerouted via Stratford and Cote-St-Luc to somehow avoid this problem, and he wants a guarantee that no articulated buses will be used on the route.
• Five buses will be added to the STM’s busiest rush-hour route, the 535 R-Bus Du Parc/Côte-des-Neiges, starting in September, in order to deal with crowding problems. 200 articulated buses (beyond the current test vehicles) will come into service starting later next year as the STM simultaneously increases its fleet from 1700 to 1950 buses.
• The STM is looking at installing bike racks on buses.
• One testy issue was about strollers. Moms are upset because there isn’t enough space on crowded buses for their giant strolling machines. In response, rather than asking clients to use simple foldable strollers, they’re turning the wheelchair area on low-floor buses into wheelchair/stroller areas.
• First-generation LFS low-floor buses (16, 17 and 18 series buses from 1996-98 which are considered lemons if not death traps) will be phased out by 2010. It’s unclear whether their retirements will come before those of the high-floor Classic buses which preceded them.
• Among the recommendations from the public:
  • Limited-stop bus service between the two legs of the orange line (along Van Horne, Jean-Talon, Sauvé/Côte-Vertu, for example), doubling up on existing local routes. This may seem unnecessary because of the existence of the blue line, but I have found it easier to take the 121 between Sauvé and Côte-Vertu than to take a metro detour through three trains.
  • Spend more money cleaning up bus shelters, because “once in a while isn’t good enough.” No recommendations, of course, on where this new money should come from. Higher fares? Higher taxes? Less service? All of those sound really appealing so we don’t see as much litter.
  • Setup commuter train stations at Namur and Canora along the Montreal-Blainville line.
  • There should be more reserved lanes so people can get to their destinations faster
  • There should be fewer reserved lanes because they take away parking and hurt local businesses
  • Bus stops should be spaced further apart so the buses stop less
  • Bus stops should be spaced further together so people don’t have to walk as much
  • Bus fares should be raised so that more money can be put into better services
  • Bus fares should be decreased so that the poor have access to transit
  • Poor people should have a special poor-people’s pass
  • All non-PSA advertising should be removed from buses and metros (again, no recommendations of what should replace the loss of revenue or what services should be cut)

Another West Island-specific consultation will take place in Pierrefonds on June 11.

UPDATE (May 24): For the record, The Suburban also covered this meeting.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit

As if trying to find a way to sound more like elitist suburban NIMBY snobs, residents at the southern tip of Nuns’ Island have apparently complained to the STM that they have too much bus service. They complain about the noise and dust generated by the buses.

I know buses are loud. I hear them outside my living room window every day. But I’ve never thought to complain about them, nor have I ever experienced dust problems (do they shed?)

Perhaps the noise and dust problems in the area might be due to the fact that it’s one giant construction zone for upscale condos? The photo above is one of many new skyscraping condo buildings going up in what was once empty space near a park.

The STM, after considering numerous half-assed schemes to placate residents and needlessly inconvenience public transit users, has concluded that it’s not reducing service to the area. The article doesn’t make clear which side Claude Trudel is on, since he’s both the Verdun borough mayor and the chairperson of the STM board of directors. Let’s hope he and his constituents realize this is the best option for everyone involved.

Especially when you consider that one bus on the road can replace dozens of SUVs.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 14, 2008 — Some details of STM bus service improvements

• More service on 73 Dalton
• More service on 103 Monkland
• More service on 190 Métrobus Lachine
• Summer service on 210 John Abbott, making it a regular rush-hour bus instead of one tied specifically to the CEGEP’s schedule
  
• Service between rush hours on 219 Chemin Sainte-Marie
• More service on 225 Hymus
• Extended operating hours on 420 Express Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (to 11:55am eastbound, and 7pm westbound)
• More service on 460 Métropolitaine
• Earlier Sunday service on many West Island routes (right now many of them only start operating at 9am)

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit

Last week, the Metrovision system went live at Bonaventure station, with flat-panel TV sets installed above the platforms. It joins Berri-UQAM, McGill and Lionel-Groulx as stations that provide time, weather and train arrival information as well as news from RDI, and of course advertising to pay for it all.

Hope they’re tied down tight because they look really stealable. Especially if the lights go out again:

See also:

• June 19, 2008 — We will not believe you
• May 28, 2008 — The reds are marching
• May 27, 2008 — Georges-Vanier metro closes for summer

In other words, let’s get ready to grummmmmblllllllllllle!

The meeting is at the Intercultural Library at 6767 Côte-des-Neiges Road, just across from the cinema near Goyer St. It starts at 7pm and is expected to end at 9.

Expect a lot of discussion about the overall service improvements (despite nagging bus shortages). Also, expect grandma to go on for 20 minutes about how that bus was too full that one time.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 21, 2008 — The nitty-gritty of public consultations

To most people, this is just a bus. The kind that will take you to work on a daily basis.

But to a select few, this rust bucket is something special. A group of about 30 public transit fans chartered this RTL bus for a day last weekend, just for fun. I tell their story in today’s paper.

I first met the transit inclined a few years ago, and went along with a similar charter trip in 2006. Then, the group chartered one of the STM’s oldest active buses, No. 59-019. At the time, there were suggestions the bus was near retirement and might not see regular service again. This was billed as one last ride on one of the few remaining STM buses with a non-electronic rollsign.

I’ve always wanted to write about these guys (though there aren’t many stereotypes that tie them together, they are almost universally male), but I never got a chance to before now.

This is Shanake Mario Seneviratne, aka SMS. He organizes the charters.

This is Tristan Roy, the driver. He’s a transit fan as well, and volunteered to drive the bus around for free. That helped reduce the cost, as well as provide a few perks.

By coincidence, during one of the first stops at LaSalle metro (which used to be a terminus for some then-STRSM bus routes), there was No. 60-013 sitting a few stops ahead ready to do a run of the No. 12 Île des Soeurs route. The 60-series buses date back to 1990 and are among the oldest STM buses still in service (though a year younger than the 59-series). 59- and 60-series buses are few and far between, especially outside of weekday rush hour. Seeing this bus on a Saturday morning is unusual, hence all the excitement.

This plate, installed above the driver’s window, is hard to make out, but places the date of manufacture at November 1989.

Though the hope is always that beautiful sunny weather will prevail, rain was on hand for a good portion of the charter, necessitating umbrellas and camera-protection gear.

At one point, Tristan gets out and wipes away the rain off the front rollsign of the bus. Unfortunately that did nothing for the fog on the other side of the glass.

Operating the manual rollsign is the funnest part of this activity. Before the electronic signs were installed, drivers would have to press a button that scrolled up and down through two rolls of digits and a roll of names (the latter could take forever getting from A to Z). Because the sign is almost 20 years old, there are plenty of names of routes that no longer exist. Some of the stops involved going to places no longer served by the RTL and setting up the rollsign to display the name of a route that no longer exists.

The rollsign also has a few typos.

One of the charter participants takes a photo of the bus at LaSalle metro.

At the St. Hubert garage, Tristan lined up three types of buses the RTL currently uses. On the left, a Van Hool AG300 articulated low-floor bus, used mostly on the 45 express bus between Terminus Centre-Ville and Panama terminus. On the right, a Novabus LFS low-floor bus, which is what most of the STM fleet is currently made of.

This is Mike Boone. Apparently no relation to this Mike Boone. This guy is from Belleville, Ont., one of many who made the trek from far for the opportunity to explore with fellow transit fans. What he’s doing, by the way, is not recommended while buses are in motion.

Here’s Boone again taking photos. While everyone was taking photos of the bus, trying not to get anyone else in their shots (and staying out of the shots of others), I was focusing on taking photos of the transit fans, who were the subjects of my story.

If this kind of thing appeals to you, be sure to check out the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board (in English) and MétrodeMontréal forums (in French), as well as the YUL bus charters official website.

See also:

• April 2, 2008 — The 211 death trap
• March 28, 2008 — Attention: Un feu dans l’autobus nous oblige à … run for your lives!
• January 31, 2008 — Journal de Québec: 9 months and counting

• The creation of a new bus route, 515 Vieux-Montréal/Vieux-Port, which will shuttle tourists between the Berri-UQAM metro station and Old Montreal destinations. This is a much-needed bus for tourists and residents alike. Old Montreal is not friendly to vehicular traffic, and sees relatively little bus service, especially outside rush hour, requiring people to walk from the Champ de Mars, Place d’Armes and Square Victoria metro stations to get there. The 500 number is because the route is expected to take advantage of new reserved bus lanes which the city will install in Old Montreal.
• Adding weekend service to the 470 Express Pierrefonds route. Originally a rush-hour express bus, its runaway popularity convinced the STM to add midday departures in both directions last October, and then extend the schedule to 9pm on weekdays. Adding weekend service was an expected change, as part of an overall plan for West Island bus service.
• A small route change for the 194 Métrobus Rivière des Prairies between rush hours (when it currently takes the AM route)
• Extending the 268 Trainbus Pierrefonds to the Côte-Vertu metro station. The one-way rush-hour-only bus is designed to facilitate transfers to the Deux-Montagnes train line at Roxboro-Pierrefonds. Eastbound, it terminates where the 68 does at Grenet and Gouin. Westbound, it starts at the Roxboro-Pierrefonds train station about 10 minutes after the train’s scheduled arrivals. It’s unclear if the extension applies only to eastbound trips or if westbound trips will be extended as well (and if so, how synchronization with the train will be maintained).
• Creation of a new 220 Kieran bus route in Saint-Laurent, as part of a corporate partnership agreement. Kieran is a tiny street in western Saint-Laurent on the southern side of the Bois de Liesse. Such partnership agreements are usually created to offer transit service to industrial areas for employees of a specific company.

Unfortunately, the meetings don’t provide much details into these kinds of things, so I don’t have any information beyond what you see above.

Expect the changes to take effect with the next schedule change at the end of June.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit

Ever wake up one morning and think to yourself: I want to see cheesy, low-budget early 90s Québécois rap video that goes on for nine minutes about how awesome public transit is and how cool you can be if you follow all the rules and respect your fellow passengers?

It’s Il fait beau dans l’métro (about) meets Don’t Copy That Floppy (about). Will it be as much of an Internet senstation?

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 21, 2008 — The nitty-gritty of public consultations

The party is similar to metro parties that took place in March, May and October of last year.

See also:

• October 31, 2007 — Metro party tonight
• May 21, 2007 — Success is in the eyes of the flashmobber
• May 17, 2007 — Metro party this weekend (but…)

Everyone’s getting into the spirit.

See also:

• April 10, 2008 — Habs fever
• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday

On Wednesday evening, the STM’s board of directors approved the creation of a new express bus route serving Nuns’ Island. According to Le Magazine Ile-des-Soeurs, the line will be numbered 480, and will go between Lucien L’Allier station (Mountain and de la Gauchetière), down René Lévesque and University to the new Bell headquarters at the north end of Nuns’ Island, a 15-minute trip in each direction. The route, which will run toward the island during the morning rush hour and toward downtown in the evening (making it the only express bus that travels away from downtown in the morning), is expected to serve 1300 passengers starting in September.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — On the 515
• June 17, 2008 — STM to add more off-peak bus service starting Monday
• May 18, 2008 — Nuns’ Island hates public transit

UPDATE (April 10): The Chronicle reports the STM says it’s a coincidence (duh).

See also:

• March 28, 2008 — Attention: Un feu dans l’autobus nous oblige à … run for your lives!
• August 29, 2007 — Montreal’s bus death traps
• June 25, 2008 — On the 515