ARTM beefs up South Shore shuttle bus service during REM breakdowns

Commuters stuck on Montreal’s light-rail trains during service disruptions will soon have access to shuttle buses that can take them to any station on the network, regardless of the time of day.

The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), Montreal’s regional transit planning agency, announced on Thursday that starting September 16, new measures will be in place for passengers affected by long service breakdowns on the Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM). These include breakdowns lasting more than 20 minutes during peak hours and more than 30 minutes outside of those hours.

Currently, shuttle bus availability during breakdowns depends on factors like location, time, and destination. For instance, commuters stranded at the Brossard or Panama stations on the South Shore can only be bused to downtown Montreal’s Gare Centrale at specific times:

• Monday to Friday between 5:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
• Monday to Friday from 6:30 p.m. until the network closes.
• All day on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

Between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, passengers headed downtown are currently rerouted to the Longueuil Metro station, where they must transfer to the Yellow Line to continue their journey.

“These changes will provide more predictability for public transit users and operators who implement this plan,” stated the ARTM. “The user experience will improve due to fewer connections during afternoon commutes.”

The new policy will also make it easier for commuters to rejoin the REM once service resumes.

The REM, an electric train network that started operations in July 2023 between downtown Montreal and the South Shore, will eventually expand to include stations in the West Island, Sud-Ouest borough, Montreal’s North Shore, and Trudeau International Airport.

CDPQ Infra, the network’s developer, faced criticism during the REM’s first year for frequent service breakdowns and unclear communication during outages.