STM's Biggest Issue: Half-Frequencies

 Many people love to talk about how good transit is in Montreal, but these arguments are devoid of any mention of the lackluster bus network. I've been in the city a few times recently, and have relied on the bus network to get around. It is miserable, and one key thing that makes it just that bad are half-frequencies during peaks.

In this (very) short blog post, I'm going to identify my biggest issue with STM, and what must be done in order to solve it.

What do I mean by 'Half-Frequency'?

Half-frequency is a transit practice where, instead of having a consistent headway throughout a route, one direction is more frequent than the other. I will use the example of STM's 170 Keller route.

In the morning peak, most demand is eastbound, for Station Côte-Vertu. As such, buses operate this way every 14 minutes. In the less-busy westbound direction, for Gouin/Toupin, buses operate around every 28 minutes. Half of the buses that run east operate 'Not in Service' westbound for their next trip. The opposite is true in the afternoon peak. This is to, theoretically, save vehicles for the sake of the busier direction at the expense of the less-busy.

For those who live in Toronto, there is not a single TTC route that offers a half-frequency. The closest thing we have are trippers, where a bus might do a single extra trip on a route to relieve peak crowds.

What's the Issue?

This might have worked a few decades ago, when the routes and areas they ran through were new and just developing. However, this isn't the case. Take the 164 Dudemaine, which I have taken. Westbound service in the afternoon peak is less frequent, but eastbound demand is very high, and buses are regularly packed from as far west as Laurentien.

It also quite blatantly privileges downtown-centric trips. Customers heading from home to work downtown have is much easier than someone heading to a peripheral industrial area who travels in the opposite-peak direction. 

This is compounded by just how bad STM's frequencies are, which I spoke about in an earlier blog post. This would be okay if buses were every 3 minutes peak-direction, 6 minutes opposite-peak, but they come nowhere close to this. Forcing a half-hour wait onto someone just for the sake of saving a few buses is not acceptable. I won't get into how bad STM frequencies are, but from experience on my most recent trip: 25-minute evening headways on the 44 Armand-Bombardier is nowhere near good enough.

What can be done?

Right now, nothing. Unfortunately, STM is having serious issues with fleet size. All ten garages are at maximum capacity, and some older buses are being retired soon with no replacements ordered. STM is having a hard time filling all scheduled trips now, let alone with a 20% increase to service.

The best STM can do is buy land and get building garages. In the meantime, they can order a bunch of new vehicles and lease industrial land. While it is less than preferable to store vehicles in buildings without maintenance facilities on site, it is better than no facility at all.