Good news, Montrealers: Public transit fares not going up in 2017

Montreal public transit userswon't have to shell out more money for the bus and Metro this year.

TheSocit de transport de Montral(STM) announced that all fares will remain the same for now whenitreleased its 2016 annual report on Thursday.

However, that doesn't mean thefreeze willcontinue in 2018, when a new regional organization, the ARTM, is totake over from the STM and will oversee fares.

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The STM also unveiled a plan to provide better service to Montreal bus riders.

Director generalLuc Tremblay acknowledged that punctuality is an issue and thatmore buses were late in 2016 thanthe previous year.

To address the problem,the transit agencyplans to strategically deployback-up busesonthe 20 bus routesmost affected by congestion and construction.

"We are in the process of rebuilding Montreal as you know it. That means there are many job sites around," said Mayor Denis Coderre. "We must now ensure that public transit is a viable option."

The idea is that the buses will be waitingnear problem areas and then, based on live monitoring of the network, they will be added to a routewhen issues spring up.

The STM hopes to have the extra pools of busesout on the roads by June.

Other highlights:

• The STM expects to have all 58 AZURMetro cars up and runningby the deadline of 2018, as promised.
• All buses purchased in the future will have air conditioning. The STM says it will take up to 10 years to have a fully air-conditioned network of buses.
• A total of 90 client information screens have been installed around the city and should be functional by July.The digital screens provide real-time updates on when the next bus is coming.
• The total number of complaints dropped in 2016, but clientcomplaints concerning employees, equipment and other factors actually went up.