STM unveils its 10 minutes max network

Press release


 

STM unveils its 10 minutes max network


Montréal, August 25, 2010 – Michel Labrecque, Chairman of the STM Board of Directors, today announced the creation of the 10 minutes max network, aimed at reducing the waiting time of some 568 000 clients, representing about 60% of the bus network’s daily ridership. The STM will thereby provide buses at maximum intervals of 10 minutes, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday to Friday, on the 31 busiest bus routes. The service upgrade will cover the entire island of Montréal starting next August 30.

As a complement to métro service, the 10 minutes max network is almost an extension of the underground network. It will indeed offer an increased level of service in areas where there is no métro service, by making it possible to transfer to at least one métro station. The bus routes composing the new network were selected among those with the highest ridership levels and offering the most extensive coverage for clients, in order to ensure their access to the system within acceptable walking distances. Thus, about 90% of Montrealers will have to walk less than one kilometre to access the network, as with the night service network,” declared Mr. Labrecque.

The 10 minutes max network will be offered in the busiest direction, either from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. or from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., of the following twenty bus routes: 32 – Lacordaire, 33 – Langelier, 44 – Armand-Bombardier, 45 – Papineau, 48 – Perras, 49 – Maurice-Duplessis, 55 – Saint-Laurent, 64 – Grenet, 90 – Saint-Jacques, 97 – Mont-Royal, 103 – Monkland, 106 – Newman et 506 – Voie réservée Newman (rush hour only), 132 – Viau, 161 – Van Horne, 171 – Henri-Bourassa, 187 – René-Lévesque, 193 – Jarry, 197 – Rosemont, 211 – Bord-du-Lac and 470 – Express Pierrefonds. 10 minutes max service will be provided in both directions from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on another 11 bus routes, namely the 18 – Beaubien, 24 – Sherbrooke, 51 – Édouard-Montpetit, 67 – Saint-Michel, 69 – Gouin, 80 – du Parc, 105 – Sherbrooke, 121 – Sauvé/Côte-Vertu, 139 – Pie-IX, 141 – Jean-Talon Est and 165 – Côte-des-Neiges.

A promotional campaign
The STM will introduce the new service by means of a promotional campaign aimed at clients and the public later this fall, within its transit installations and by a door-to-door distribution of the 10 minutes max network map, featuring all related information, to more than half a million households on the island of Montréal. The information will also be available on the STM and Mouvement collectif websites, the Info.STM page in the Métro newspaper, Planibus timetables and various social networks like Facebook. Ads will also be featured on super highway billboards, as well as on back-lit ad panels and Métrovision screens in the métro, on the rear-side of buses and on bus shelters. Gradually, the service will be identified by bus stop panel stickers along the network’s routes and some fifty articulated buses will feature the 10 minutes max network’s brand colours. Radio ads will complete the campaign.

As indicated in its 2007-2011 Business Plan, and through investments by Transports Québec and Ville de Montréal who share equally in financing PASTEC, the transit service improvement programme, STM has deployed a number of measures aimed at improving public transportation in Montréal. Despite having already improved métro service as much as it could with the rolling stock at its disposal, STM still wants to promote ridership growth in the bus network. To that end, STM has undertaken a review of its bus services to make them simpler and easier to use for regular and occasional clients. The process has led to grouping its 206 bus routes into five large service clusters, each one featuring its own distinct colours and numbers to identify them. By the end of 2011, STM will have finished deploying the clusters composed of local routes, rapid/express routes, night time routes, others dedicated to specific groups and the 31 primary routes forming the 10 minutes max network.

An original way of illustrating the environmental contribution of clients
In the wake of STM’s new branding campaign, transit users have had the opportunity to learn the value of their contribution to Society in Motion. Indeed, they can see first-hand the enormous balloon above Place-des-Arts métro station. With its 125 cubic metre volume, the giant balloon features the message « 90 clients de la STM = ce volume de CO2 en moins par jour ».

“Public transportation is doing better and better in Montréal and STM is undergoing an unprecedented period of growth. This new round of measures will improve the comfort of passengers because, over time, articulated buses will be assigned to the 10 minutes max network. Moreover, it will mean some 70 000 additional hours of service each year and represents the first step in the comprehensive review of bus services,” concluded the chairman.

 

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