Choose Public Transport
Robert
Flis
Image source: Flickr.
The public transportation system in Montreal is one of the city's greatest assets. The Société de Transport de Montréal, or STM, for short, provides bus and metro service across the island, making it very easy to get where you need to go. With this kind of service at our disposal, it really doesn't make sense to attempt making your commute through the congested streets of Montreal, by car. Public transit is truly the most cost effective, efficient and environmentally friendly way to get around. The bottom line is this: if you're not already using public transportation in Montreal, you should be.
There are
a variety of reasons why people prefer to take their cars instead of hopping on
a bus or metro car. For one, lots of us own cars already, and think "why
should I pay for a monthly pass when I can just drive myself?" The answer
is simple. Even if you own a car, public transit is cheaper. According to the
STM website, Montreal households spend about 26% less on transportation than
those in the rest of Quebec. The reason for this is that Montreal has
transportation services that the rest of the province doesn't. This being said,
in 2005, 361 trips were taken by STM users, 60% of whom do own cars (stm.info).
It may
seem unreasonable to some to pay about $100 a month to use these services, but
for regular users it's totally worth it. Anyone who spends at least 25$ a week
on gas driving around the city would be saving money taking the bus or metro.
This isn't even taking into consideration the long-term costs involved in
driving a car (such as wear and tear, tires and regular maintenance). Parking
is another expense that Montreal drivers wouldn't have to deal with if they
took public transit.
Time is a huge factor that influences people's opinions of public
transportation. When you're in a hurry, the thought of having to wait for the
bus or metro could sway you into saying "I'll just drive there." Then
you hit the other T word: traffic. Especially in the downtown core, Montreal
drivers often fall victim to horrific traffic, which can crop up unexpectedly
at any time.
The city's
autoroutes are prone to accidents, which can grind traffic to a halt, at the
worst possible times. The metro is a great way to avoid these delays. With
busses and metros stopping every few minutes during rush hour, your travel time
will actually become faster. If efficiency is very important to you, then
behold all the things you can accomplish while sitting in the bus or metro
instead of stressing out in traffic. In can also be unbearably frustrating and
time consuming to find parking in some of the busier sections of Montreal.
Taking public transportation eliminates this problem altogether.
For those concerned with the environment, public transportation has a definite
upper hand over cars. A common thought is that busses are large and source of
pollution, and cars are smaller and pollute less. With the biodiesel engines in
today's busses, and the number of people who are able to travel at one time,
the bus actually pollutes 18 times less than cars. In Montreal, busses account
for 2% of the city's air pollution, while cars account for 50% (stm.info). And
that's just one half of the system.
The metro
runs completely on electricity and is a great zero emissions way of traveling.
The environmental friendliness doesn't stop there; by 2025, the STM is planning
to convert its entire fleet of busses from diesel to electric
(green.autoblog.com).
Let's face it, it's not easy to drive in Montreal. It can be the most stressful
part of anyone's day. But there are easier alternatives and they can be found
on thousands of street corners throughout the city. The STM has a bright future
ahead of it, and the more people get on board with public transportation, the
easier it will be for Montrealers to travel with ease.
Image: Flickr.
Works Cited
"Frequently
Asked Questions - Metrodemontreal.com." Le Métro De Montréal - Montreal by
Metro. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.
Loveday, Eric. "Montreal's 1,300-plus Bus Fleet Going All Electric by 2025
-- Autoblog Green." Autoblog Green -- We Obsessively Cover The Green
Scene. 24 May 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.
Montreal's Official City Portal. "Ville De Montréal - Transportation Plan
- Home." Web. 22 Oct. 2010.
"Montreal Subway Metro and Light Rail." Welcome to Subways.net,
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Subways and Light Rail but Were
Afraid to Ask Because You Knew You'd Be Branded as a Subway Nerd. Web. 23 Oct.
2010..
Payment, Guy. "Montreal Has One of the Best Transit Systems in North
America." Montreal Gazette - Breaking News, Quebec, Opinion, Multimedia
& More. 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Montreal+best+transit+systems+North+America/3633042/story.html
Société De Transport De Montréal. Web. 25 Oct. 2010..
"Societe De Transport De Montreal." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
Web. 23 Oct. 2010..
"STM - The 80th Anniversary of the Bus in Montreal." Société De
Transport De Montréal. Web. 23 Oct. 2010..
Wyatt, David A. "Transit History of Montreal, Quebec." University of
Manitoba: Personal Home Page Web Server. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
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