Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec in Canada is located on the island of the same name between the St. Lawrence River and the Rivière des Prairies. As part of the public transport system of the city it has a subway system entirely underground. Montreal metro was the first in the world in using metro technology on rubber tires, running entirely on rubber tires instead of steel wheels. His system, similar the one used in the Paris Metro, was developed in collaboration with the RATP (Autonomous Leasing Company Transports Parisiens) and the company Michelin.
The subway, as the bus service in Montreal, is administered, regulated and operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).The Metro was officially opened on 14 October 1966 with two lines, line 1 and 2 and with 26 stations of the current 68.
Montreal Metro Lines
The Montreal Metro network consists of 4 lines (1, 2, 4, 5) with 69.2 km long and 68 stations. In order of antiquity, are:.
- Line 1, Green, this line was together with Line 2 the first to be operational. It opened in 1966. Runs between Angrignon and Honoré-Beaugrand, 22 kms and 27 stations.
- Line 2, Orange, opened in 1966 and runs between Côte-Vertu and Montmorency, with 30 kms and 31 stations. It is the longest line of the network..
- Line 4, Yellow, opened in 1967. This is a shuttle service from the city center across the river in Longueuil with an intermediate stop at the island of St. Helena, and is the shortest line of the system with 4.25 kms and only three stations.
- Line 5, Blue, opened in 1986, this is the newest of the lines. Runs between Snowdon and Saint-Michel, with 9.7 kms and 12 stations.
Future expansions:
As priority initiatives are being studied various projects including an extension of 6.2 kms from the blue line to Anjou, the yellow line to School Édouard-Montpetit in Longueuil on the south shore of the St. Lawrence river and the orange line northwest from Côte-Vertu station to connect with the train station near Bois-Franc.
Curiosities
There is not a line 3 although initially there were plans to build it on a tour with 15 stations on surface level ending in the town of Cartierville. The plan was aborted due to several factors in 1967 in favor of line 4.
From its beginnings, the subway has been committed with art and culture, and space has been decorated by such eminent artists as Jean-Paul Mousseau and Marcelle Ferron, important members of the artistic movement known as Les Québécois Automatistes.The metro has an incredible wealth of art and is one of the best decorated in the world, with stained glass, murals, frescoes and sculptures. Some of the stations are an important example of modernist architecture.
Opening Hours
The network runs from 05:30 am (for line 1, 2 and 4) and 06:00 am (for line 5) and ends between 00:30 h and 01:30 h, according to the line and the day of the week.
Frequency Step
Depending on the line varies between 2-6 minutes during rush hour to 12 minutes outside of rush hour.
Fares and Tickets
Subway fares and buses are fully integrated, a ticket allows you to make a full travel, whatever the means or the number of links (in a limit of 90 minutes). Fares are partially integrated with the commuter trains of the Agence métropolitaine de transport.
- 1Single Ticket costs 3,00$ (canadian dollar).
- 1 Reduced Single Ticket costs 2$
- 10 Single Tickets cost 24,50$
- 10 Reduced Single Tickets cost 14.50$
- 1 Day Ticket cost 9.00$
- 3 Day Ticket (consecutive days) cost 18.00$
- Monthly Pass, 77$
- Reduced Monthly Pass, 45$
- Weekend Ticket, for unlimited travel from 18:00 hours of Friday to 05:00 hours of Monday, cost 12$
Note: the reduced ticket applies to children between 6 to17 years and older than 65 years.The children under 6 years travel free when accompanied by an adult.
More info: http://www.stm.info/info/doc/grille2013.pdf
Airport
Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport is located 25 km. west of Montreal.
The company Aérobus has an express bus (no. 747) that goes from the airport to the bus station in Montreal, in the city center. This service operates 24 hours every day and tickets can be purchased over the counter exchange (International Currency Exchange (ICE) in the international arrivals area. The journey time out of peak hours is 35 minutes.
Also has a route that leads to hotels in the city and one that goes from the airport to Montreal-Mirabel Airport.
At the same time there is a free minibus that arrives at Dorval VIA Station (located 2 km) and from there serves trains to major cities in Canada. The public bus 204 connects the airport to the Dorval bus and train terminal and bus 209 joins the enclosure with the Roxboro-Pierrefonds train station.