Montreal Is Not Making Downtown Metro Stations Free This Year, Sorry Everyone

Though there may be few reasons to look kindly on the past few years, one perk of summer 2022 was the free entry to certain downtown Montreal metro stations visitors enjoyed for the hot season. Unfortunately, the mayor's office has confirmed that this initiative won't be returning for summer 2023.

"WHY, PLEASE, WHY THOUGH?" you may ask yourself.

"The context has changed a lot since last summer, when we were in a post-pandemic situation where downtown traffic had slowed down considerably," a representative from the mayor's office told Narcity over email.

"Today, we can be happy to see that rue Sainte-Catherine is once again crowded, that a large part of downtown is back to its usual dynamism and that the metro is returning more quickly to normal on weekends."

In other words, too many people are back to enjoying the public transit system, so the party is over. But that's not to say the STM isn't doing any good with its new, still pitiful yearly budget. "We are now focusing on more structural and inclusive incentives," the mayor's office wrote, "such as free public transit for seniors, which will come into effect on July 1."

As a reminder, the metro stations where entry was free last summer were Berri-UQAM, Champ-de-Mars, McGill, Peel, Place-d'Armes, Place-des-Arts and Saint-Laurent — all high-traffic areas that draw a lot of business for the STM, which the organization does in fact need. Last summer, the STM tweeted that the limited-time freebies were "another incentive to use the metro and (re)discover its advantages (reliability, efficiency, frequency of service...)."

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.