Boarding buses via all doors on the 139 and 439 bus lines: improving the transit experience for customers

Press release

Société de transport de Montréal (STM) announces that boarding buses via all doors will be permitted on the 139 – Pie-IX and 439 – Express Pie-IX lines starting August 29.

Montréal, July 11, 2016 – Société de transport de Montréal (STM) announces that boarding buses via all doors will be permitted on the 139 – Pie-IX and 439 – Express Pie-IX bus lines starting August 29, an initiative that is consistent with STM’s focus on improving the transit experience for customers by speeding up the boarding process and ensuring better distribution of passengers on the bus.

«Customers really appreciate being able to board the bus via all doors and the results of our pilot project with the 121 – Sauvé/Côte-Vertu are very positive. In light of that success, STM took the decision to expand the practice to the Pie-IX corridor, as a way of gaining greater insight and knowledge about this new approach and, especially, of enabling more customers to benefit from this measure,» stated Philippe Schnobb, chairman of the STM board of directors.

«Having a project like this on two other bus lines helps to make Montreal a leader with regards to sustainable mobility. Only with these types of projects will we be able to persuade more Montrealers to use public transit for their mobility needs, through improved transportation,» added Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montréal.

Applicable conditions are the same: the initiative allows customers with unlimited use fare cards (monthly, weekly, 4-month and annual passes) to board via the rear doors of the bus every day from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. like the 121 line.

Survey of customers using the 121 bus

STM reminds that, last spring, it surveyed some 650 passengers who use the 121 bus line. The approval rate for boarding via all doors reached 84%, while the satisfaction level rose to 76%. The improvement perceived by them was mainly in terms of smoother flow of people. Indeed, for 70% of them, boarding the bus was better than before, while over half felt that the distribution of people aboard the bus more even, and that moving inside the bus was now easier.

Key facts about the 139 and 439 bus lines

  • The 139 bus covers 21 km and has 92 stops, both directions combined. It is the bus network’s third most heavily-used line with some 28,500 passenger rides per average weekday.
  • The 439 bus covers 22.5 km and has 45 stops, both directions combined.
  • Both lines use articulated buses equipped with five cameras.

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Isabelle Tremblay
Affaires publiques – STM
514 280-4940
isabelle.tremblay@stm.info