STM riders paying more for less service as wait times triple on some evening routes

Montreal transit riders are paying more while getting less service, and advocates are pushing Quebec's political parties to commit to major funding increases ahead of the provincial election.

According to a TVA analysis, wait times for evening service on some STM routes have tripled over the past decade. On Route 121, the second busiest line, evening wait times doubled from 10 minutes to 24 minutes after 8 p.m. At the same time, the STM monthly pass rose to $110 last year—a five per cent increase that Trajectoire Québec, a transit advocacy group, says is double the inflation level.

"It is deplorable that users pay more and more every year to have less service than before the pandemic," said Brian Nash, spokesperson for Trajectoire Québec. "The reduction in service is putting us in a dangerous spiral where the service is less attractive, meaning that fewer people will ride public transit, which means less revenue, which means we have to cut operations, meaning it's less attractive, and so on. It is unacceptable."

The STM reported that passenger trips on its network declined by 6.6 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, attributing the drop to regional population decline and 2025 strikes by workers. Amélie Régis, an STM spokesperson, said the transformation of neighborhoods, demographic shifts, new infrastructure like the REM and Pie-IX rapid bus, bus network overhauls, and construction projects all affect service coverage and operating speeds.

The STM said service levels in 2026 will be 95 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels for both buses and metro, having recovered to 80 to 85 per cent of pre-pandemic ridership.

Trajectoire Québec published an open letter last month demanding that Quebec parties commit to dedicating 50 per cent of all transportation infrastructure investments to public transit, increase funding to transit agencies by five per cent annually, and reverse cutbacks made under the outgoing Coalition Avenir Quebec government. Nash added that the provincial government has effectively abandoned transit planning: "The provincial government is asking transit agencies to 'optimize' spendings, but we are now at the point where the STM and the other sociétés de transport in the province cannot optimise anymore without cutting the service."