STM bus ridership is down

Numbers show that ridership is down by 13% on STM buses over the last five years, a trend blamed by one critic on Denis Coderre’s cuts to the STM budget in 2012 and 2013. The STM suggests it may be the frustration of road congestion.

There are a lot more numbers in the item including some details about the most and least popular routes. If the Gazette has the whole list it would be interesting to see it.

Sunday I rode in an STM bus driven by a guy with a heavy foot. He’d coast the bus along a bit and then apply a sudden jolt to the gas randomly so the bus leapt forward and all the passengers slewed around. His treatment of the brakes was equally rough. Even after I got a seat the ride was unpleasant, but standing had been worse. Maybe the STM could send anonymous testers around to assess their drivers occasionally.