January has been tough for Montreal’s new REM train network. Recently, there were four issues in four days, leaving many commuters furious.
Last week, some were left waiting for hours as they tried to get home after work, only to eventually be told they’d need to find another way home.
REM officials are pledging to do better as Quebec’s transport minister puts pressure on them to improve service.
“It’s been very chaotic, very stressful,” said daily REM user Fanny Ryner, who uses the service to travel between her home in Brossard and her workplace in downtown Montreal.
Her frustration reached a boiling point last Wednesday during the afternoon rush.
“They informed us that the REM would be down for the next hour or so,” she explained.
Hundreds of users were asked to move to an office building adjacent to Central Station and told shuttle buses would bring them to Brossard.
After nearly an hour, riders were told the buses weren’t coming, Ryner said. Transit authorities told Global News a communication breakdown led to on-the-ground employees giving riders the wrong information.
“I was very mad, but mostly nervous because I’m a single mom and I had to pick up my son,” Ryner explained.
She ended up taking a $55 Uber ride to the south shore.
“Fifty-five dollars just to go back home when you already paid your ticket, is not acceptable,” she told Global News.
Ryner is far from alone in her exasperation. That was just one of four problems in four days for the REM.
A Facebook group devoted to south shore transit is full of angry comments.
“Some people say that they’re going to take their car because they’re fed up of the REM problems,” said Axel Fournier, a spokesperson for the Association pour le transport collectif de la Rive-Sud. “I don’t think it’s a good solution. I think that we we need to get people to use transit, so we need to have transit that suits them.”
Software issues, equipment breakdown, and de-icing of the tracks on the Champlain Bridge have all been named by the REM as reasons for the outages.
“Our top priority is to improve the user experience and provide them with the reliability of service they can expect,” said Michelle Lamarche, a spokesperson for CDPQ Infra, the REM’s parent company.
The Office of the Transport Minister expressed its dismay in an email statement.
“The problems encountered over the past six months must be taken seriously and we must ensure that users are well informed. It is imperative that the system improves,” the written statement said.
The ARTM, the authority that oversees public transit in the Greater Montreal area, called the situation “serious.”
“The number of REM outages must diminish drastically and rapidly,” ARTM spokesperson Simon Charbonneau said. “We are working with the the Transport Ministry, the REM and other public transit organizations in the region to permit them to improve relief plans. Service and the communications with people need to remain the priority at all times.”
Ryner said she understands outages can happen, but thought the REM would have figured out how to communicate with users and implement backup plans by now.
“The communications aren’t clear and the plan is not efficient,” Fournier said. He wants STM buses to be ready to drive people to the south shore if the REM breaks down during afternoon rush hour.
The ARTM said buses and drivers are scarce during rush hour, and that driving over the Champlain Bridge in traffic would take too long. Instead, the current plan is to send people to the metro where they can ride to the Longueuil station and then be picked up by a shuttle bus which will bring them to Brossard.
Charbonneau told Global News that is the most efficient backup plan as of now.
Ryner, meanwhile, said she’s holding her breath during every commute these days.