APTA-2048
Senior Member
It's hot as hell right now and there's no A/C (save for a handful of new buses).
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Visited Montreal for the first time. Some questions about their Metro system
- Thread starter BMO
- Start date
Neutrino
Senior Member
Hopefully the heat wave is gone by that time. What else?
EastYorkTTCFan
Senior Member
If you have a smartphone I would download the city mapper app. It will default to Toronto well you are here but once you open it in Montreal it will ask you if you want to change cities.
nfitz
Superstar
Don't bring large luggage that requires accessible entrances. There are very few, and not even escalators for shorter stair cases in many stations where you'd typically see them in Toronto!
TJ O'Pootertoot
Senior Member
I was just about to say almost the same thing. I'm going this summer, for the first time in a while, and was stunned at how little of their Metro is accessible; it's far worse than TTC. Only 13 of the stations have elevators, all on the Orange line, only 3 or 4 of which are in the downtown area. That's pretty appalling.
You're staying downtown but want to go to the islands? Too bad.
Want to visit Olympic Park? Nope.
Want to visit family in Outremont? Better call a cab.
But I do remember the stations looking pretty, so there's that...
You're staying downtown but want to go to the islands? Too bad.
Want to visit Olympic Park? Nope.
Want to visit family in Outremont? Better call a cab.
But I do remember the stations looking pretty, so there's that...
Attachments
nfitz
Superstar
Most cities are like that, unless they have completely new systems.
London, Paris, New York City, etc. Toronto is light-years ahead on accessibility in the subway in comparison. Not that you'd get that impression from local media and such.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Elevators are great not just for those with mobility issues. They're great for those with luggage, strollers, and bicycles as well.
begratto
New Member
Montreal’s métro stations are typically much deeper than in Toronto, so it’s quite complicated and costly to retrofit them with elevators. But they’re slowly getting there. They are accelerating the plan.
Neutrino, what is it that you’d like to know specifically?
Neutrino, what is it that you’d like to know specifically?
nfitz
Superstar
All true. But even a very shallow station like Vendome, that's one of the most important interchange points with 3 commuter train lines AND next to a massive hospital isn't accessible yet!
And they are way behind on making commuter train platforms accessible as well - and they don't have the depth excuse there as well!
New York City also doesn't have the depth excuse.
TJ O'Pootertoot
Senior Member
London, Paris and NYC all started building their systems in the 19th Century so while it's amazing, for example, that the Times Square station is inaccessible, I understand the history. Montreal started building its system in the 1960s.
Given that Toronto's started in the 1950s, yes, it's amazing how bad Montreal's is in comparison but we've still got aways to go ourselves.
nfitz
Superstar
I don't see how that makes a difference, given that at both times, they were 100% designed as non-accessible.
The bigger question is what's been done since the 1990s. I was really surprised recently with some large luggage, that the relatively new (1992) entrance into Bonaventure metro through 1000 de La Gauchetiere has an unnecessary flight of about 4-5 stairs, and goes through a door with no automatic openers. Very oddly, (and with great fanfare) they added elevators from the Bonaventure mezzanine to the platforms almost a decade ago (in 2009), and yet there is no steps-free access into the station itself - at least that I could figure out. There's that very old and relatively small elevator to the Chateau Champlain that's been there as long as I remember (always seemed very odd having an elevator in a metro station), but I believe there are still a few stairs leading to it!
felix123
Active Member
Question: Any tips on getting around the Montréal métro?
Everyone's answer so far: Toronto's subway is so much better and also I'm feeling very insecure right now!
TJ O'Pootertoot
Senior Member
Erm, I guess because I figure that as enlightened folks, we should have had a better sense of how to design things for all people in 1965 than the people who were first figuring out how to run underground trains in 1867? Surely if I told you of a subway system built 10 years ago that was inaccessible, you'd find that surprising and relevant in comparison to NYC, a system in need of retrofitting after being built in an entirely different social and legal environment, right? Wouldn't the default assumption be that a more modern system is more accessible than an older one?
It should also be easier to retrofit something newer, in theory, though you're right that if you gave zero thought to making your public transit system accessible for everyone in the first place, it doesn't ultimately matter whether you did it 50 years ago or 150.
Toronto has still got some holes to fill in but key downtown stations (eg Dundas, Bloor) have long been accessible, as have big terminal stations, like Finch. Montreal's gaps are so big that it's only useful for very specific trips; it's not like you have to go one stop further and backtrack because the station in between has no elevator. Hardly anywhere does at all.
In fairness to Montreal (and NYC), their buses seem pretty good but you're still cutting off a huge part of your system when even someone with a stroller - nevermind a wheelchair - can't get anywhere of import on your subway.
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TOareaFan
Superstar
Montreal Metro is, generally, very good. I use it a lot when I am there and have no problems.
I think it does have accessibility issues but that aside it is an efficient system that provides good coverage of the city.
Biggest tip I have for people from Toronto using it is spend some time with a map and get familiar with the endpoints of each of the lines.....the direction signage for trains is not East-West or North-South but rather trains are to “X endpoint”
nfitz
Superstar
We are much more enlightened - which is why our stations have ceilings, unlike the old 1860s Metropolitan and District line stations in London that are all open, to deal with the emissions from the steam engines!
I've heard reports that Montreal buses improved, but I hadn't taken it for a while and was quite disappointed how primitive it was recently at Vendome waiting for a bus - and how less frequent they seemed to be than I expected. Not that there was any signage indicating when the next buses were coming. Nor any fare-paid area, despite having a bus loop around the station. They hadn't even put buses that start out the same route adjacent to each other, so while I was waiting for the more frequent one, I believe a less frequent (and less crowded judging from the relative lines) one I could have took had departed from the other side of the station. I certainly didn't expect crush-loading at mid-day! And yes lines ... even at a metro station - they all lined up single file, and all slowly entered the front door, not even attempting to board at the wider middle doors!
I've found NYC buses okay on the rare occasion I've taken them in the past, but I've heard there have been cutbacks because of financial issues - even with the recent increases in ridership ... such is the bizarre state of US politics, where the local buses and subways are run directly by the State government, instead of the city ... a warning for the TTC perhaps.