With winter just around the corner, Montreal’s metro is about to get a lot busier, and not just with commuters looking to escape the cold on their way to work.
To get ahead of it, the City of Montreal, the STM and the SPVM have announced a new set of measures meant to make the network feel safer for riders and staff. The plan, unveiled on Monday at Place-des-Arts station, includes more special constables and police officers, more social workers, upgraded camera monitoring and, eventually, more frequent service.
“Montrealers must feel safe in the métro at all times,” Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said in a statement.
Here’s what’s changing.
More constables & police officers
The biggest piece of the plan is a bigger security presence on the network.
The city says it will invest $6.4 million a year to gradually add 52 special constables by the end of 2027, bringing the STM’s team to 230 members. In the meantime, the SPVM will add 12 police officers to the metro this fall.
According to the STM, that means more frequent patrols, regular coverage at stations identified as critical and faster response times when something happens.
The STM and the SPVM are also tripling the number of brigades on their joint metro response team, going from two to six. The added teams are meant to expand coverage across the network, especially on winter evenings.
More eyes on the network
There are already about 2,500 cameras in the metro, but not all of them are watched in real time.
The STM is putting $3 million toward upgrading its operations and monitoring centre so that more of those cameras can be monitored live. The goal is to spot problems earlier and get police or emergency services where they’re needed faster.
Social workers in the metro
Not every situation in the metro calls for a constable.
Through a new partnership with St. John Ambulance, social workers will be in the metro starting this fall. During the winter, two teams, each made up of a supervisor, a social worker and a security and liaison officer, will travel the network seven days a week to help people in vulnerable situations. One team will stay active for the rest of the year.
The mayor said the measures are part of a broader approach that also includes warming stations open 24/7 for people in need this winter.
More frequent trains are coming, too
This one might be the change regular riders notice most, though you’ll have to wait a bit for it.
Starting with the 2027 school year, the city plans to boost metro service by 5%, particularly in the evenings. That should mean shorter waits and more predictable trips for anyone riding after work.
It was one of Martinez Ferrada’s campaign promises, and according to the STM, it’ll be the network’s largest service increase since 2017.
A new safety boss
The STM has also created a new division focused on safety and organizational resilience, led by Martin Prud’homme.
Prud’homme brings more than 30 years of experience, including time with the Sûreté du Québec, the SPVM, Quebec’s public security ministry and the City of Montreal. He’ll report directly to STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard.
“Despite our financial constraints, we are increasing our investments in safety year after year,” Léonard said.
STM board chair Aref Salem noted that some of the network’s safety indicators stabilized last winter, but said the transit agency is “taking nothing for granted.”
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