STM closes Cabot Square metro entrance
The STM has closed the entrance to Atwater metro at the corner of Cabot Square for the winter. It otherwise becomes a homeless shelter, and would need constant cleaning and patrolling.
Some community workers aren’t happy, but STM honcho Éric Alan Caldwell holds that the metro is a transport system, and isn’t there to offer shelter that others are failing to provide.
jeather 13:19 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
That’s always been a pretty horrible/risky entrance. Not sure where the entrance to use is when Alexis Nihon is closed, was there one on de Maisonneuve near Dawson?
Kate 13:28 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
The article says the STM regards that one on de Maisonneuve as the primary entrance.
jeather 14:12 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
Based on bus stops, that’s a full out lie about the “primary entrance”.
Kate 14:22 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
I agree – it’s a lot more recent than either the Cabot Square entrance or the one via Alexis Nihon, and it’s even finished on the outside with bricks to match the Dawson building. It doesn’t feel like a primary entrance, but when the mall is closed, it’ll be the only one, all winter, and a block away from the bus termini on the square, as you point out.
…I have to wonder how this de Maisonneuve entrance is expected to be immune to the problems that the Cabot Square entrance has. People looking for a winter refuge are capable of walking one block and turning a corner, no?
Uatu 16:41 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
The de maisonneuve entrance is easier to patrol. The metrocops just have to take an escalator up to see what’s going on as opposed to having to walk through Alexis Nihon down the hallway and up the stairs to the Cabot square entrance.
Nicholas 16:43 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
The Cabot Square entrance is weird, because you have to walk through the mall to get to it from the metro. The STM controls it because it has the bus loop there, but without direct access to the metro it’s always subject to the mall’s opening hours.
And having spent a lot of time at Atwater, the de Maisonneuve one really is the primary direct entrance (not the primary entrance). Dawson, Alexis Nihon and Westmount Square are directly connected underground, so that is much, I’d guess most by a fair bit, of the traffic, but for buses very few people actually get on or off at Cabot Square. If you’re transferring to a bus, then for the 104, 138 and 144 you’re better off catching it at de Maisonneuve and Atwater, it’s a much, much shorter walk (and will soon have an elevator). For the 63 and the 90, better to go through the mall and catch it on St Catherine, West of Atwater. Closer for the 24 too. And the same for transferring to the metro. And you go faster (less time on the bus), and get to use escalators. The only buses where you’d plausibly use the Cabot Square exit are the 57, 108 and 150, but it’s usually faster to cross the street, because the tunnel under Cabot Square, which is very narrow, has stairs. Further, transferring from the Green line to those buses is usually better at another station, like Guy/Charlevoix, Lionel Groulx or whichever downtown Green line station is closest to your destination rather than use the 150 on René Lévesque. (Much more common for bus to bus transfers, which won’t use the tunnel.)
In the thousands of times I’ve used that station I’ve never, not once, used that tunnel to connect to a bus, only because I was curious too see what it was like. I’m not saying it’s not useful for some people in some cases (helpful if it’s cold, and helpful if you can’t stand a long time and want to wait for a bus leaving from there to get a seat rather than wait in line at the second stop closer to the metro), but I’d be surprised if 5% of Atwater metro passengers use that entrance.
We all know why this is being done, and I have sympathy for that (which is, I’ve heard from multiple people over the years, part of the reason people don’t like using that entrance). But it’s of minor transportation usage.
rob 16:51 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
Couldn`t they just hand over juridiction to Alexis Nihon? Maybe an arragement with the city can be made to assist their mall security.
The passage to Westmount Square also closes following Westmount Square`s hours.
jeather 16:57 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
FWIW when I regularly used that metro, that was the entrance I used. It was creepy and felt unsafe, but it was daytime, and it was 25 or so years ago, and nothing more than catcalling ever happened to me.
But that map sure looks like the main exit is indeed Cabot square, and though it’s less walking overall for some stops, it’s more outdoor walking for a lot of them.
I suspect people don’t use the entrance for the reason it’s being closed, not because it’s inherently a less useful entrance.
Kate 19:44 on 2024-11-12 Permalink
It was the exit people used to get to concerts at the Forum, years ago. Dealers hung around hissing “‘ash, acide, mescaline… ‘ash, acide, mescaline…”