logo
Cost of getting around rising about 3% Tuesday

Cost of getting around rising about 3% Tuesday

Montrealers will pay more to ride public transit as of Tuesday, when planned fare increases will take hold.
Set by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, the Montreal region's transit authority, the increases will hike the price for most public transit fares by an average of three per cent.
The transit authority sets the new fare rates every year based on inflation, though says it aims to limit the financial effects for riders.
The cost of a monthly pass for Zone A, which covers the island of Montreal, will increase from $100 to $104.50. Those qualifying for a reduced monthly pass now pay $60 per month, but will soon pay $62.75.
Bundles of 10 regular fares will increase to $34.25 from the current $33.25 and to $23 from $22.25 for seniors and students.
Single and two-trip regular fares will remain priced at $3.75 and $7 and at $2.75 and $5 for seniors and students.
The complete list of new fares across all zones is .
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Opinion: From Taipei to Montreal: Ideas that can transform our city
Opinion: From Taipei to Montreal: Ideas that can transform our city

Montreal Gazette

time4 days ago

  • Montreal Gazette

Opinion: From Taipei to Montreal: Ideas that can transform our city

Op Eds Montrealers know frustration by heart: a métro stalled between stations; a hospital queue that stretches late into the night; a complaint submitted to a public office, never acknowledged. Orange cones linger for months, and AI researchers worry a chip delay could halt their work. These bottlenecks sap productivity and erode public trust. Taiwan shows none of this is inevitable. As part of the 2025 Mosaic Taiwan Fellowship, organized by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we spent two weeks immersed in Taiwan's society and policy landscape. We joined 30 other Canadian and American participants for site visits, lectures and conversations with public officials, entrepreneurs and community builders. We saw how Taiwan's public services blend efficient infrastructure with thoughtful, user-centred design. These weren't theories. They were working systems. On time, on budget and built with care. Let's start with the chips. Montreal's tech ecosystem runs on silicon: Mila 's AI breakthroughs, CAE's flight simulators, university photonics and quantum labs. Today, roughly 90 per cent of the world's most advanced chips are fabricated in Taiwan. That makes our research economy vulnerable. Luckily, Bromont already hosts Canada's largest micro-electronics hub. Quebec should leverage that strength by attracting a mid-size Taiwanese design studio or packaging facility and launching a joint research chair on resilient supply chains. A strategic investment in long-term economic security. Taiwan's health care system offers another clear model. While Quebec's RAMQ card has limited functionality, Taiwan's National Health Insurance card stores a patient's recent prescriptions, visit summaries and insurance status in a secure chip. It settles claims instantly and links to a national electronic records system. The result? Shorter outpatient wait times, direct access to specialists, and a system that costs about half as much — roughly six per cent of GDP. As Quebec upgrades its digital infrastructure, a smart health card could cut paperwork, reduce errors, and deliver more dignity for patients and providers. And then there's the métro. In Taipei's transit system, platform screen doors prevent accidents and keep trains moving. Painted 'politeness lines' cue riders into quiet, orderly queues. Lights show where the doors will open; priority seats are respected. The effect is tangible: calm platforms, silent cars and a culture of respect. Montreal's REM shows platform doors work here too, yet the STM's Blue Line extension is being planned without them. Quebec should mandate barriers on all new builds and launch pilot campaigns with decals and courtesy messaging at stations like Berri-UQAM. This kind of design shapes how we move. Courtesy is engineered, not wished for. Taiwan also models new ways of listening to citizens. Through platforms like vTaiwan and Join, people can propose policies and collaborate on decisions, from Uber regulations to mask distribution. It's fast, transparent, and builds trust. Montreal's civic tech sector is growing, but often disconnected from public decision-making. A public innovation unit could test digital engagement tools and close that gap. Even construction felt different in Taiwan. Work sites were organized, timelines posted, detours sensible. Métro extensions advanced with visible co-ordination between utilities, transit agencies and contractors. In Quebec, the opposite often feels true. Requiring integrated project delivery models and publishing real-time dashboards would help projects move faster, building public trust. Taiwan's population may be smaller than Canada's, but its innovations in civic design and delivery are ready to be adapted, scaled and implemented in Montreal. With more provincial budgets to come, and the continuing expansion of the REM, our leaders have a chance to act. Mandating platform doors, piloting a digital health card, anchoring a chip partnership, testing digital engagement, and requiring smarter construction tools aren't moonshots. They're practical, proven steps aligned with global best practices. Montreal has the expertise and appetite for change. It just needs the policy to catch up. We saw what's possible in Taiwan. Why not in Montreal? Michael Lecchino is a marketing student at Concordia's John Molson School of Business and president of the Conseil jeunesse de LaSalle. Nicolas Bastien-Carignan studies political science at Université du Québec à Montréal. Patrick Girard is a master's candidate in public and international affairs at Université de Montréal.

Iconic bike rides: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve route is a favourite for Gazette photographer
Iconic bike rides: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve route is a favourite for Gazette photographer

Montreal Gazette

time5 days ago

  • Montreal Gazette

Iconic bike rides: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve route is a favourite for Gazette photographer

By Montreal is a world-class cycling city, but you wouldn't know it by riding on the bike paths on its main streets. In recent years, the city has multiplied the number of reserved lanes and protected paths for people who use bicycles as a form of transportation. However, those paths have become a catch-all for a hodgepodge of travellers on hoverboards, electric scooters, remote-controlled skateboards and fatbikes. That's why Dave Sidaway makes a distinction between bikers and cyclists. A former competitive racing cyclist at the club level, Sidaway, 70, hasn't hung up his biking shorts during his more than 30-year career as a photojournalist at The Gazette. His unique viewpoint of the city makes him the ideal guide to Montreal's best paths, and sometimes to spots located just off those paths. The Gazette has launched a weekly series showing off the best cycling spots in the city. We start the ride at the Atwater Market. It's a spot where Sidaway has taken numerous beauty shots that graced the pages of The Gazette over the years. His standout shots depict the iconic Clock Tower with the backdrop of Mount Royal, pedal boats tied up on a dock in the Lachine Canal and joggers set against an early morning fog. The market is an ideal starting point for group rides. It is central to several neighbourhoods and highways and allows for easy rides to iconic spots like the Champlain Bridge, the Lachine Rapids and the Old Port. Today, however, we are heading to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, located on Île-Notre-Dame in Parc Jean-Drapeau. We follow the dedicated multi-use path along the Lachine Canal and then cross over at the St. Gabriel Locks around des Seigneurs St. History buffs will note that this neighbourhood gave birth to Canada's industrialization. 'As you're riding along here (along the Lachine Canal), you can basically record Montreal in one form or another,' Sidaway said. Rewind the tape 200 years, and about one in five Montrealers worked in this area. Factories lined the canal and workers were holed up in tenements close by. The need for housing created the neighbourhoods in St-Henri, Pointe-St-Charles, Ville-Émard and Griffintown, among others. Left to languish for decades when the St. Lawrence Seaway rendered the canal obsolete, most factories have since been demolished, turned into condos or abandoned and awaiting redevelopment. These days, the area is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts with joggers and cyclists dominating. On the water below, kayakers, pedal-boat riders and standup paddleboarders are a common site. Pleasure-craft riders use the canal as a link between the port and Lachine's entry point for Lac St-Louis. One particular vestige from Montreal's industrial era is the signature Farine Five Roses sign, which serves as the backdrop of the Peel Basin. Once in danger of being demolished, the sign was designated a historical landmark in 2020 by the city. The basin marks the Lachine Canal's easternmost point, where it links to the Old Port. Often the site of festivals, this spot has been pegged for redevelopment for decades. Among the failed projects floated for this area are a casino/hotel by Loto-Québec, a baseball stadium and an underground/underwater station for the REM light-rail network. The city's latest plans for the area are now being drawn up as part of the Bridge-Bonaventure development project. On summer days, this area is often a spot for people who fish along the canal, and many pictures of these fishers have appeared in The Gazette over the decades. 'I see people fishing here all along the canal and have taken a lot of pictures here,' Sidaway said, standing on the St. Gabriel Lock. 'I took a really nice shot here with the late afternoon light sun. And when it's really hot, people will sit underneath the bridge where the REM tracks are and fish from there.' Sidaway gets back on his bike and rides as the bike path meanders underneath the Bonaventure Expressway and heads east toward the Port of Montreal head office. This is another favourite spot for beauty shots. He uses the effect of the sun bending along the concrete structure to compose photos with complex lighting and subjects set in front of the old flour mill. However, it is that complex lighting that has also resulted in crashes that Sidaway has witnessed. 'You can't see around this corner, especially in the afternoon when the sun is setting, the light will just blind you,' he said. 'One day, I came around here and a guy was holding his bike in his hands. Someone on an electric bike had come around the corner, and they crashed. The guy's carbon bike was garbage. The frame probably cost $3,000.' The path ascends along Pierre-Depuy Ave. as cyclists are confronted with two picturesque views. On their left, there's the entirety of the downtown core and the Old Port with Mount Royal in the background. On the right is Habitat 67, a unique collection of concrete blocks designed by world-famous architect Moishe Safdie as a student project. Sidaway ducks behind Habitat to show his favourite spot on the island to get a beauty shot in the summer. The standing wave at Habitat is a magnet for surfers, kayakers and the occasional swimmer. Minutes later comes the speed portion of the ride as Sidaway heads over the De la Concorde Bridge to Île-Notre-Dame. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is where all the top cyclists in the city come to train on their speed runs. First used in a professional F1 race in 1978, the racetrack was quickly appropriated by elite cyclists. These days, you can see people sporting the latest trends in bikes and cycling gear doing laps on the racetrack. Sidaway says beginners should use caution here, especially as they merge into the lanes of fast-moving cyclists. 'There's a spot where people were crossing, and they didn't realize how fast the riders were going,' he said. 'There was a crash, and one of the riders fell and ended up in hospital and later died of his injuries. I came by one day and there was a group putting up flowers. The girlfriend of the rider was drawing something on the wall in his memory.' Sidaway's shot captures Sarah drawing a heart on the track's wall. On that day, Aug. 8, 2021, friends and family got together at the track to ride 30 laps in honour of Philippe St-Hilaire's 30th birthday the previous March. While Sidaway has taken a lot of photographs both of cyclists and elite racers here over the years, this is his favourite place to ride, and he's at this spot several days a week during the warm months. It was on one of those rides in May 2020 that Sidaway spotted a whale while returning on the De la Concorde Bridge. He had seen a crowd of people looking in the water and asked what had them so mesmerized. Sidaway wasn't working that day but called the tip into the news desk, and a photographer was dispatched. Sidaway said it was both awe-inspiring and sad to see the whale. 'To some extent, I'm somewhat jaded when I see things people think are really spectacular because of my job — that's all I ever do,' Sidaway said. 'But in this case, it was a little alarming because you knew that short of sheer luck, it wasn't going to end well for that whale.' After several laps of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Sidaway retraces his route back to the Atwater Market where the ride began. Having started at 7 a.m., the ride ends in the mid-morning, just as the crowds begin to pack the Lachine Canal route. We love where we live, and throughout the summer, we are running a series of stories that highlight what makes our community unique and special within Canada. You can find Part 1 of the series here.

Grocery shopping by bicycle? Bixi making it easier with new line of trailers
Grocery shopping by bicycle? Bixi making it easier with new line of trailers

Montreal Gazette

time6 days ago

  • Montreal Gazette

Grocery shopping by bicycle? Bixi making it easier with new line of trailers

By For those who need to schlep groceries or transport gardening essentials but don't have a car or don't want to use one, Bixi is offering a new service as of Monday: bicycle trailers for rent. In what it says is a world first among bike-sharing services, Bixi announced it will roll out 50 bike trailers by the end of this summer that can be rented by the hour and attached to any bicycle, Bixi or otherwise, for use. The first 10 were to be installed Monday at Bixi docking stations around the city. The cost of rental is $4 for four hours for members, and $8 for four hours for non-members, plus taxes. After four hours it costs an additional 20 cents a minute. Trailers can be returned to any docking station after use. 'It came in response to the requests of Montrealers who told us they wanted to be able to transport bulkier items or their groceries,' said Pierre-Luc Marier, director of communications. 'So now people will be able to transport shopping items or baseball equipment or something they bought on Facebook Marketplace.' The trailers took two years to develop and can hold up to 50 kilograms of stock. Children and pets are not permitted. They can be found by using the Bixi app and will probably be parked at docks next to high-traffic shopping areas like the Jean-Talon and Atwater markets and close to the train station for those who might want to carry their suitcases. Once removed from a dock, they attach to the seat post of a bicycle with a clamping system. A lock is built into the trailer so it can be secured while running errands. Bixi plans to install another 100 trailers each summer until the end of 2028 for a total of 350 throughout the city. In its communiqué, Bixi states 'the trailer has been optimized to withstand the intensive use and urban realities of Montreal,' which presumably means it has been designed to weather potholes. Time will tell.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store