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Montreal’s transit officials along with the city’s new mayor say they’re taking action to tackle rising worries about safety on buses and the Metro after data showed an increase in assaults linked to transit across big Canadian cities.
“There are a lot of issues in terms of how people feel safe in the city. It’s not only one issue,” said Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada.
She was commenting on a recent Cambridge Chronicle report that found the total number of assaults reported on transit systems in eight out of Canada’s 10 largest metropolitan areas – including Montreal – has doubled from 2016 to 2024.
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The analysis points out that violent crimes related to transit peaked in 2023 in places like Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge but have slightly dropped in those areas this year. Still, these numbers remain much higher than ten years ago.
Martinez Ferrada told reporters Wednesday that while the numbers haven’t shot up dramatically, there is definitely a feeling among people that they don’t feel secure.
She mentioned her government plans to boost the number of constables patrolling the Metro but stressed that this alone won’t fix everything.
“I think we also have to tackle the homelessness crisis, the drug crisis we have in our streets,” she said.
Laurence Houde-Roy, a spokesperson for Montreal’s public transit authority, Société de transport de Montréal (STM), said in a statement that since the pandemic, social challenges have gotten tougher at their facilities leading to more cases involving alcohol and drug use as well as loitering.
“Over the past two years especially, we have observed that this situation increases the number of incidents of misconduct and deliberate vandalism in our facilities, affecting both the sense of safety for customers and our operations,” she said.
This led STM to renew its controversial policy on June 18 requiring people not to linger but keep moving inside stations. Houde-Roy explained it gives constables extra power to maintain order and “allow them to intervene more easily with people who have no travel purpose.”
The STM is rolling out several other steps aimed at making employees and riders feel safer, including setting up a text message line for non-urgent safety concerns (1-888-786-1119).
The system has around 180 special constables plus about 30 safety ambassadors patrolling its network with more visible staff presence now at 13 stations.
Houde-Roy added there are over 2,500 cameras throughout the Metro network allowing live monitoring of key spots.
