Montreal hikes transit pass price while Laval appeals to drivers

Bus and metro fares are going up in Montreal and down in Laval under the cities' new public transit budgets, released separately Thursday.

Montreal Transit Corporation fares as of January 2008: Regular monthly pass: $66.25 (up from $65) Reduced fare pass: $36 (up from $35) Tickets: $12 for 6 Cash fare: $2.75, unchanged from 2007

While the Montreal Transit Corporation is hiking monthly passes by $1.25, the Laval agency is reducing single ticket prices, offering free service for children under 11 on weekends and holidays, and will cut ticket costs by 60 per cent on days when there is a high smog alert, charging a dollar for a ride.

The measures are a bid to woo drivers off Laval's streets, said Pierre Giard, a spokesman for the city's transit corporation.

"What we are trying to do is get new riders. The car traveller, the occasional rider and those people use cash tickets, so we are cutting those fares,"hoping to getas many as 1,500 people off the streets on smog days, Giard said on Thursday.

But monthly Laval passes will rise from $72.50 to $74.00, Giard said, because "people who buy monthly passes are already convinced that the transit system is the way to go."

The Montreal Transit Corporation's $938 million budget calls for a 1.9 per cent fare increase for monthly passes, which will cost $66.25 starting in January 2008, up from $65.

Reduced fare passes in Montreal will go up by a dollar, to $36 per month.

Cash fares remain the same at $2.75 per ride, with a book of tickets going up to $12.

Laval Transit Corporation fares as of January 2008 Regular monthly pass:$74 (up from $72.50) Eight-ticket booklet: $18 (down from $21) Cash fare: $2.50 (down from $3)

The MTC also promises to increase service by 26 per cent on the green, orange and blue lines starting in January, and to put extra buses on about 30 routes.

The corporation will have "more drivers for sure," promised Carl Desrosiers, executive director of operations at the MTC. "The rush hour [period] is going to start earlier and end later, and so we're going to buy40 more buses."

But new investments will be limited, given the MTC's financial health, Desrosiers said. The corporation is forecasting a growing deficit in coming years.

"The fact is, when you have a 40-something-year-old metro and you haven't really invested a lot to renew it, you suddenly have a major investment," said Montreal city councillor Marvin Rotrand, who is vice-chair of the corporation.

The 2008 MTC budget has gone up $80.6 million, or 9.4 per cent, compared to 2007.