With the STM, every day is Earth Day

It’s Earth Day on April 22 and a perfect opportunity to remind everyone that riding the bus and métro means choosing a transportation mode that is efficient and reliable, and above all sustainable, from start to finish.

Not only do they contribute to improving air quality, your rides with public transit contribute to reducing traffic congestion and CO₂ emissions, largely responsible for climate change. For every ton of CO₂ emitted by the STM, 20 are avoided in Montréal.

Green buses
If our métro has been powered fully by electricity since 1966, our bus network also contributes to making our city a greener one. For several years now, we have been using biodiesel fuel made from animal fats and used oils (GAHU) to power our buses. In 2016, using that biofuel made it possible to avoid the emission of nearly 4200 tons of GHGs, equal to eliminating 1049 cars that each travel 20 000 km per year!

Furthermore, in 2016, fifty or so new generation hybrid buses were added to our fleet. Transit users can board one of these vehicles on the 11- Parc-du-Mont-Royal/Ridgewood bus line, as well as on several lines in the city’s west central sector. Using these new bus models leads to fuel savings and GHG reductions of up to 30%, thereby helping in the fight against climate change. By 2018, we expect our network to be operating 258 hybrid vehicles.

Your contribution
Our positive results in terms of sustainability also come from the actions taken by our customers and the good habits they adopt. As such, thanks to their efforts and commitment, an average of 75.8% of waste produced in métro stations is recovered. That’s 91.7% of all paper and 61.8% of all containers are appropriately disposed of by customers, meaning in recycling bins, instead of trash cans.

The STM says ‘Thank you’ to the hundreds of thousands of regular and occasional customers, who contribute to STM’s good report card for sustainability and also help make Montréal a city where breathing is made easier.

Moving forward

To learn more about STM’s sustainable actions and read our report on sustainability, Rapport de développement durable 2016 (French only), go to www.stm.info/dd.