The ARTM continues its reform and announces price increases for July 1


The region will now be divided into four zones (A, B, C and D) based on which prices will be determined, it announced in a statement on Thursday.

The changes – which include, inflation oblige, an average rate increase of 2% – will come into force on July 1. They are part of the tariff overhaul initiated by theARTM last year. This time, 332 titles will be abolished; 29 others will be created.

A map of the new metropolitan fare zones.

The new metropolitan fare zones.

Photo: Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority

The reform notably paves the way for the commissioning of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM), whose southern branch should, according to the latest news, be inaugurated in the fall of 2023.

Access to this new mode of transport has been included in certain titles, even if theARTM will probably have time to index its rates again by then.

A long-term job

Simplified, the new fee schedule (New window) unveiled Thursday still has 13 pages.

As an indication, it provides that single passages will remain at $3.50 in Montreal, Laval and the Longueuil agglomeration.

Residents of Laval and Longueuil who wish to travel to Montreal by metro will however have to pay $5.25, an increase denounced by the Association pour le transport collective de la Rive-Sud, a group of users from the South Shore. , which asks theARTM of reconsider one’s decision.

As for monthly tickets, those of Montrealers will go from $90.50 to $94 – an increase of 3.9% – while those of the suburbs will be able to reach up to $255.

According to the director general of theARTMBenoît Gendron, we must however be careful to compare new titles with old ones, because we are comparing apples and oranges. New titles, he says, typically provide access to more services, more flexibility.

As an incentive to avoid the car, we will be in a better position. »

A quote from Benoît Gendron, director general of the ARTM

In the past, each transit company was responsible for setting its own fare. This responsibility has been devolved to theARTM after its creation in 2016 under the Couillard government. Since then, this agency has been responsible for setting the price of all trips.

At the time, the metropolitan region had 17 price lists and more than 750 fares.

The presentation of the new fee schedule for theARTM comes the day after the appointment by Quebec of a new president at the head of its board of directors, Patrick Savard, who will replace Pierre Shedleur. This former director general of the City of Longueuil will take office on May 31.

The STM emphasizes the increased flexibility of the new grid

Called to comment on the new fare schedule, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) declined to give an interview on the subject on Thursday.

In a written statement sent to Radio-Canada, however, she said that she supports the main principles of the tariff overhaul implemented by theARTM.

In a context of revival of public transit, the increased flexibility offered by the new fare schedule as well as expanded access to several modes are winning conditions for promoting its use.pleaded in particular his spokesperson Philippe Déry.

With information from Olivier Bachand and Marc Verreault



Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca

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