Preview of Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche is next weekend and the metro will be open all night.
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carswell 20:17 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
On January 1, 2024, I had to be at the Berri-UQAM station at around quarter past midnight in order to be sure of catching the last westbound blue line train at from Jean-Talon because, with surge pricing in effect for ride-hailing apps, no traditional taxis findable and all-night buses so crowded they skip stops where passengers don’t get off, there was no other option besides walking. And that’s for a celebration involving many more people on a night when most revellers have been drinking, often heavily and for hours, and shouldn’t be driving.
So they can’t keep it open on New Year’s Eve but can for this much less significant event? Not sure I understand the reasoning, politics or optics.
carswell 20:26 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Also, per the REM’s Xwitter feed, “Le REM sera ouvert toute la nuit du 2 au 3 mars, au tarif habituel. Vous pouvez vous procurer un titre ‘soirée illimitée’ et vous informer sur les horaires habituels des services d’autobus afin de bien planifier à l’avance vos déplacements.”
Chris 21:14 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Maybe the event organizers are paying the STM?
DeWolf 21:29 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Maybe it’s just me but I think Nuit blanche is much more significant than New Year’s Eve, given that it involves a multitude of all-ages activities running not just until midnight but almost until dawn.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the STM should offer all-night service on NYE too, but if budget constraints mean choosing between the two, I think Nuit blanche is the right choice.
carswell 21:55 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
NYE hardly stops at midnight. In earlier years, the orange line was crowded on January 1 at 2 or 3 a.m. and even a dozen or so riders would disembark with me at UdeM station in the wee hours.
Can taxis and ride-shares be affordably and conveniently had during Nuit Blanche? And would there be a lot of drunk drivers on the roads if the metro weren’t open all night?
Would be interesting to see the hourly transit traffic figures for the events in the years they both had all-night metro service.
I’d argue that NYE celebrations take place all across the city as opposed to mostly within a few clusters (pôles as they call them, even in English), likely involve much more drinking and many more people and almost surely have fewer non-metro transit alternatives. Then again, I expect to go to my grave never having attended a Nuit Blanche event.
walkerp 22:10 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Also easier to get workers for Nuit Blanche then for New Years.
JP 00:44 on 2024-02-27 Permalink
I’m with Carswell on this one. Would be interested in knowing how Nuit Blanche made it happen.
CE 09:04 on 2024-02-27 Permalink
The STM is a major sponsor of Nuit Blanche.
Chris 11:25 on 2024-02-27 Permalink
The answer to most things is: money. I’d wager it’s the answer here, we just don’t know the details.
jeather 12:01 on 2024-02-27 Permalink
I bet it costs more and is harder to get enough employees to work all night NYE than some random weekend in March.
Nicholas 12:23 on 2024-02-27 Permalink
I’ve heard, though never seen in confirmed, that the collective agreement limits extra work, meaning extra service. Even if allowed it would be very expensive. One advantage of the REM is they need very little staff to run service (mostly just a few people in the control room). The metros already run on auto pilot, so if we could fully automate the system we could make it easier and much cheaper to run more service during these special events (and in general).
Uatu 11:24 on 2024-02-28 Permalink
The REM saves money on drivers but has more security. More than the metro. The overtime expenses would probably be from that.
carswell 12:58 on 2024-02-28 Permalink
The STM provided seamless all-night metro service on several New Year’s Eves before and maybe once or twice during the pandemic. They should be able to do so post pandemic.
Funding is surely an issue these days. Hence a modest proposal: that a consortium headed by the SAQ, the SQDC and, why the hell not, Loto-Québec (all rolling-in-it government corporations that tout their social responsibility credentials, including mitigating the adverse effects of the products they sell) and involving other NYE stakeholders, such as breweries, distilleries, the SAAQ, wine/spirits agencies and bar/restaurant owners’ associations, step up and provide it — maybe with some government assistance thrown in — to keep the metro running overnight or at least until 3 a.m. and the entire transit system free of charge from, say, 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 till closing or 8 a.m. on January 1. Help cover the costs by announcing and following through on strict DUI enforcement and add a tip jar at the metro stations and online as a way of thanking the STM employees working the overnight holiday shift.