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Tagged AMT

AMT planning new express routes

June 23, 2008 – 5:19 pm | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

Route for new AMT bus from Vaudreuil to Côte-Vertu

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.

New AMT route from Brossard to Nuns\' Island

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)

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AMT ponders trains to Beauharnois, Marieville, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu

June 1, 2008 – 4:32 am | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

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.

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AMT commuter train schedules on Google Transit

January 9, 2008 – 8:37 pm | Posted in Montreal, On the Net, Public transit, Technology

The AMT has quietly become the first transit agency in Quebec (and only the third in Canada behind Vancouver’s TransLink and Fredericton Transit) to add its routes and schedules to Google Transit.

Now, people using Google Maps to plan trips in Montreal will be given the option of using the train. Schedules for all five lines are included, but no buses so far. Google has some examples, like St. Jerome to Lucien-L’Allier station at 7pm (where the first available train is more than 12 hours later, assuming the next day is a weekday).

The search is still a bit clunky (it refuses to calculate routes from some general locations, and while it accepts “Gare Lucien L’Allier” as a location it doesn’t recognize “Gare Vendome” or “Gare Parc” or “Gare de la Concorde”), but it’s still pretty cool.

The next step is to see the STM, STL and RTL (as well as all the smaller AMT-run agencies) add their route information to the service. The STM already has a similar service with its clunky Tous Azimuts interface (which was nevertheless a technological breakthrough when it first came out). Hopefully converting data used in that service to Google’s Transit Feed Specification won’t be too difficult.

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Your guide to holiday transit service

December 24, 2007 – 1:17 am | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

As the holidays approach fast, radio stations are switching to all-Christmas-music formats, malls are packed with desperate last-minute shoppers, and TV starts to suck really bad.

What better time to contemplate that most exciting of holiday traditions: complicated transit service schedules!

Fear not folks. Below is a day-by-day guide to what you can come to expect from the Montreal-area transit networks. Take a glance at it if you’re planning to take a bus anywhere near Christmas or New Year’s this year.

And have a bit of sympathy for that bus driver who has to spend midnight on New Year’s Eve stuck at a traffic light handing out transfers.

Read More »

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Trains aren’t running on time

December 19, 2007 – 4:52 pm | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

The Agence métropolitaine de transport has still not recovered from this weekend’s snowstorm, and trains on the Dorion/Rigaud line are still not opreating operating properly, forcing delays during every rush hour since, for a variety of reasons (but basically “snow” and “cold”).

Spokesperson Mélanie Nadeau says she hasn’t seen anything this bad in six years.

Which is the same thing she said Sunday, which was “the worst day since I started.”

And apparently it’s worse than breakdowns in May, when she said nobody could remember anything as bad in 10 years.

How many more worst days is the AMT going to experience?

UPDATE: My mother points out that I misspelled “operating” above. I live with the unending shame.

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AMT fares going up too

December 9, 2007 – 11:10 pm | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

$TM

Following the STM/STL transit fare increases announced last week, the Agence métropolitaine de transport has put out its list. Fare increases for monthly passes range between 1.0% and 3.8%:

Adult fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Intermediate fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Reduced fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase
TRAM 1 (Downtown Montreal) $77.00 $74.50 3.4% $61.50 $59.50 3.4% $46.00 $44.50 3.4%
TRAM 2 (Midwest/ mideast/ North Montreal) $90.00 $87.00 3.4% $72.00 $69.50 3.6% $54.00 $52.00 3.8%
TRAM 3 (Longueuil, Laval, Far West/East island) $105.00 $103.00 1.9% $84.00 $82.50 1.8% $63.00 $62.00 1.6%
TRAM 4 (Ile Perrot, La Prairie) $115.00 $113.00 1.8% $92.00 $90.50 1.7% $69.00 $68.00 1.5%
TRAM 5 (Vaudreuil/Dorion, Chateauguay, Kahnawake, north shore, Repentigny, Sainte-Julie, Saint-Constant, St. Bruno) $133.00 $131.00 1.5% $106.00 $105.00 1.0% $80.00 $78.50 1.9%
TRAM 6 (St. Hilaire, Mercier, Hudson/Rigaud, Blainville) $159.00 $156.00 1.9% $127.00 $125.00 1.6% $95.50 $93.50 2.1%
TRAM 7 (Mirabel, Oka, St. Sulpice, lower St. Jerome) $185.00 $182.00 1.6% $148.00 $146.00 1.4% $111.00 $109.00 1.8%
TRAM 8 (upper St. Jerome, Valleyfield, St. Hyacinthe, Sorel) $211.00 $207.00 1.9% $169.00 $166.00 1.8% $127.00 $124.00 2.4%

STM (Montreal):

Adult fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Reduced fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase
Monthly CAM $66.25 $65 1.9% $36 $35 2.9%
Weekly CAM Hebdo $19.25 $19 1.3% $11 $10.75 2.3%
Six tickets $12 $11.75 2.1% $6.50 $6.25 4%
Cash fare $2.75 $2.75 No change $1.75 $1.75 No change
Tourist card (3 days) $17.00 $17.00 No change
Tourist card (1 day) $9.00 $9.00 No change

STL (Laval):

Adult fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Intermediate fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Reduced fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase
Monthly pass $74 $72.50 2.1% $59.00 $58.00 1.7% $44.50 $43 3.5%
Eight tickets $18 $21 -14% $12.50 $12.25 2.0%
Cash fare $2.50 $3.00 -17% (None?) $1.80 ?

Still no word from the RTL about Longueuil rates for 2008.

UPDATE (Dec. 18): Finally the RTL releases their 2008 rates. The increase is substantial, especially for reduced fare monthly passes.

Adult fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase Reduced fare
(Jan. 1, 2008)		 Now Increase
Monthly pass $76 $73 4.1% $45 $42 7.1%
Six tickets $15.50 $15 3.3% $9.25 $8.90 3.9%
Cash fare $3.25 $3.25 No change $2 $2 No change
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Bus 54, where are you?

December 8, 2007 – 6:40 pm | Posted in Business, Montreal, On the Net, Public transit, Technology

An interesting (if highly technical) article at the RFID Journal about the AMT’s use of radio-frequency ID technology at the Laval bus terminals at the newly-built Cartier and Montmorency metro stations, to keep track of buses and their arrival times.

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It shouldn’t cost $9 to get from one shore to the other

August 15, 2007 – 1:14 am | Posted in Blogosphere, Montreal, Public transit

Midnight Poutine has a rant-post about something I’ve heard a couple of times recently: when taking a trip that spans two transit networks, it’s treated as two separate trips, and you’re charged full-price for each.

So imagine someone taking public transit from western Laval to Brossard. That person would have to take an STL bus ($3), the metro ($2.75), and an RTL bus ($3.25). Total cost: $9.

We have, thanks to the Agence métropolitaine de transport, a “zone” monthly pass, which allows unlimited travel in multiple transit networks at a price considerably below what you’d pay for the different network’s passes individually. Why can’t we do something about individual trips to save people some money?

Part of the STM’s plan as they introduce a smart card system next year will be to be able to control zoning better. This will probably mean that a trip between downtown and the West Island will cost more than a trip within the downtown area. Hopefully this might also mean it’ll cost less than $9 to cross three transit networks on a single trip.

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Free transit this weekend

April 27, 2007 – 11:04 pm | Posted in Montreal, Public transit

For those of you confused (and you should be, the media hasn’t been very clear on this), public transit is free throughout the STM and STL networks, including the metro and its three new stations.

Little mentioned so far is that the AMT will be running special free trains from the De la Concorde metro to Saint-Jerome to celebrate its new intermodal station. The line, which normally only runs on weekdays, will have four special round trips during the day Saturday and Sunday.

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