My Alerts Three rush hour bus routes now wheelchair-accessible
Montreal, 25 March 2004 – The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) will be making three of its rush hour bus routes accessible to persons in wheelchairs. Indeed, as of March 29, 2004, the 410 – Express Notre-Dame, 430 – Express Pointe-aux-Trembles and 506 – R-Bus Newman routes will be added to the 95 others already providing this service, bringing the total number of accessible bus routes to 98. A complete list of these routes is available on the STM Website at www.stm.info in the Paratransit section.
According to Claude Dauphin, chairman of the STM board of directors, « Making these lines accessible is good news for persons in wheelchairs, because of the fast service they provide over longer distances. Moreover, making rapid services accessible also meets with the needs expressed by wheelchair users and the disabled community. »
The 410 and 430 express routes carry passengers from the east end of Montreal toward downtown, with average ridership reaching 1 500 and 1 650 passengers each weekday. As for the 506 route, it carries commuters from the Monette-Lafleur terminus to Angrignon métro station, travelling along a reserved lane for most of the trip, and boasts an average daily ridership of 4 860 transit users.
The STM initially carried out a pilot-project in the spring of 1998, in collaboration with the Regroupement des usagers du transport adapté (RUTA) and some one hundred persons in wheelchairs who were either sufficiently autonomous or accompanied during their travel. The results were so positive, the accessible service became permanently established on August 24 that year.
- 30 -
