Please complete your profile to unlock commenting and other important features.

Please select your date of birth for special perks on your birthday. Your username will be your unique profile link and will be publicly used in comments.
MTL Blog Pro

This is a Pro feature.

Time to level up your local game with MTL Blog Pro.

Pro

$5/month

$40/year

  • Everything in the Free plan
  • Ad-free reading and browsing
  • Unlimited access to all content including AI summaries
  • Directly support our local and national reporting and become a Patron
  • Cancel anytime.

reseau express metropolitain

The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has officially taken off and a select number of Greater Montreal Area residents were able to get a first go at the REM's route between Montreal's Gare Centrale and Station Brossard in the South Shore. And you know what this means? New REM stations allow access to new eat and drink destinations.

As of July 31, 2023, the REM will be available to anyone and everyone and will service a total of five stations: Gare Centrale, Île-des-Soeurs, Panama, Du Quartier and Brossard. Considering you can now hop on and away to the South Shore far more effortlessly, folks have more opportunities to enjoy a handful of cafés near each REM station, new shopping spots and activities that you can now access using the new train.

Keep readingShow less

The Société de transport de Montreal (STM) updated the Montreal Metro map to include new details and a modern design. If you managed to spot the new Metro map, then you've likely got a great set of eyes considering the switch flew right over many of our heads.

In a recent video posted to the official STM TikTok page, a commenter asked if the map had changed after noticing some differences in the clip. Turns out, it did. "Oh yes, it changed!" the STM confirmed and the new look is definitely an upgrade.

Keep readingShow less

After years of anticipation, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light rail system is officially days away from launching its trains connecting Montreal's downtown core with the South Shore. The first section of the (eventual) 67-kilometre automated network will open to the public as of July 31, 2023. However, a lucky bunch will be able to ride the train for the first time ever days before anyone else can.

The REM is currently running a contest offering the public a chance to be among the first 100 people to board and ride the train on its inaugural day. "This contest is a unique opportunity for you to get a front-row seat for the commissioning of the REM, the biggest mass transit project in Quebec in the last fifty years," REM wrote on its website.

Keep readingShow less

Your commute is about to get a futuristic facelift with a dash of déjà vu. As the city revs up for the launch of the Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM), you have to cast a glance back at Expo 67 and the visionary Expo Express.

Sixty years ago, a driverless train was so far-fetched, human 'conductors' were hired to play pretend and keep passengers calm. Now, as the REM prepares to whisk people around with no driver in sight, the question begs: have Montrealers outgrown the self-driving jitters, or are we just circling back to the future?

Keep readingShow less

A new "pink" Montreal metro line was supposed to one day provide new rapid transit between Montréal-Nord, downtown and Lachine. More than six years after Mayor Valérie Plante and her party, Projet Montréal, began campaigning on the proposal to radically expand the metro network, Plante says the project is beginning to take shape — though it hardly resembles the original plan.

Here's the recent history of the proposal, how it has changed and where it could go from here.

Keep readingShow less

2022 was a big year for Montreal transit. 2023 could be even bigger. With a Montreal metro extension charging ahead, the opening of the first branch of the highly anticipated Réseau express métropolitain (REM) and several other projects either already under construction, in the planning stages or otherwise on the table, Montrealers could see some monumental changes in the next decade. Some could fundamentally reshape the city.

This map shows what the network could look like when construction is done — and if some projects in the works actually come to fruition.

Keep readingShow less

The massive man-made maw we call Édouard-Montpetit station of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is still under construction. According to information REM officials shared with MTL Blog, one of the station's five high-speed elevators is near completion and the towering contraptions will take commuters down the first 50 metres of the station's 70-metre depth, making it the deepest metro station in Canada.

Outside the station, glass panels have been installed as one of the "signature" architectural elements of the station. The panels are intended to evoke both a "sense of security" and the "sensation of 'seeing and being seen,'" according to the REM. Once complete, the station's platforms will take travellers from Outremont to downtown in three minutes.

Keep readingShow less

The first branch of the Montreal REM (Réseau express métropolitain) is now not scheduled to open until spring 2023. The light-rail train network was previously supposed to open between Montreal's Gare Central and Brossard on the South Shore by the end of 2022.

The company behind the project, CDPQ Infra, confirmed the news Friday morning after La Presse broke the story Thursday night.

Keep readingShow less

Construction on Highway 30 in the Grande Allée sector of Brossard will lead to a five-day partial closure.

A press release issued by the Ministry of Transport indicated that work will be done on Highway 30 between June 30 and July 4 — ultimately leading to lots of delays and traffic. The work will fully close some westbound sections and route traffic into single lanes in both directions.

Keep readingShow less

On July 1, the regional transit authority, the ARTM, is introducing new transit fares in Montreal, Laval and Longueuil, completing the rollout of a simplified pricing system in the whole metro area.

The new scheme divides Greater Montreal into four zones: A, B, C and D. Fares will depend in part on the zones transit riders need to traverse to reach their destination.

Keep readingShow less

Laval and the Lanaudière region might be getting their own REM de l'Est stations. The governments of Montreal and Quebec are taking over the project, a cousin to the already-under-construction Réseau express métropolitain light-rail network in the west, and have committed to making some changes to the original plan.

First, while CDPQ Infra, the entity that was initially behind the design of the REM de l'Est, had wanted trains to go as far boulevard Robert-Bourassa, Quebec and Montreal are scrapping plans for additional stations in the centre of the city.

Keep readingShow less

Planners behind Montreal's proposed REM de l'Est have released an animation showing what the elevated light-rail project could look like along boulevard René-Lévesque downtown.

Critics of the project have bemoaned the network's proposed path through Ville-Marie, arguing it would be a disruptive presence, particularly in Chinatown.

Keep readingShow less