All STM Bus Passengers Travelling Alone Can Now Request To Get Off Between Stops At Night

In 1996, the Société de transport de Montreal launched a special service to improve safety for women travelling alone at night. The service, called Between Stops, allows STM drivers to drop lone women off — get this — between stops.

This safety measure was intended to reduce the risk of violence and harassment for women travelling alone, so the service was restricted to those circumstances. Now, the STM has announced that the Between Stops service has expanded to all customers, including those with limited mobility.

This massive shift now allows anyone travelling alone at night to request that they be dropped off wherever is safest for them. Removing the previous eligibility criteria is a move intended to "offer the same safe travel experience to all STM customers who might feel unsafe in the city at night," the STM shared in a press release.

"The Between Stops service expansion is another step closer to our objective of ensuring that all our customers feel safe during their trips," STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard said.

The new inclusion of people using wheelchairs is a significant change, allowing disabled travellers to request to be dropped off anywhere that the bus' access ramp can be safely deployed.

Between Stops is now available for all STM customers travelling alone or with children between 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Limited exclusions apply — the service isn't available on express lines or shuttles, and won't apply to the forthcoming Pie-IX BRT. But if you're travelling alone at night on a standard route and you don't feel safe exiting at a bus stop, Between Stops is now there to help.