New REM branch will see bus route changes
The STM plans to rejig bus routes this spring to adapt them to the opening of the Anse‑à‑l’Orme branch of the REM later this year.
I saw a detailed complaint on reddit about overcrowding on the 51 bus, but nobody related it to the opening of Édouard‑Montpetit REM station, although mustn’t it be a factor?
No sooner announced, the new route layouts are getting pushback.
Joey 11:43 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
Long lines for the 51 at Snowdon pre-date the REM by decades… Anyway, the 51 is an amazing bus – yes it’s crowded at rush hour but it’s a great route and has good frequency throughout the day. Is it our best route? There should be a contest.
I was surprised to see a suggested FB post from the Mayor of Beaconsfield, very politely telling the NIMBYs in his town who opposed the addition of some bus lines to a residential street (to serve the REM) to pound sand.
jeather 11:48 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
I took the 51 as a teenager and it was crowded then.
Ian 12:20 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The 51 is a great route, not least becasue you can get all the way from the Plateau out to Loyola campus. It was way faster than going downtown and catching the shuttle bus when I was a student.
So these new buses…
instead of walking 10 minutes from the EXO station in town students & staff of the high school, McGill, and John Abbott will have to take the 212 from Anse-à-l’Orme or if they stick to the bus, 210 from Kirkland, but you still have to take the 211 from Lionel Groulx to Kirkland, so adding a transfer to what is currently a direct route?
Wow. Just wow.
I will be intrigued to learn how long the 212 bus from the Anse-à-l’Orme to Ste Anne will take, and with what regularity it will run. I am guessing the trip will take somewhat longer than the currnet walk from the EXO station.
FWIW there are 8500 students just at John Abbott. They don’t all take the bus, but many of them do. And the high school, and McGill campus. And faculty and support staff. This is not just a small demographic that can be hand-waved, it’s well over 10 000 people.
And no, Joey, not everyone can take the McGill shuttle bus from downtown haha
vasi 12:23 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
This isn’t super helpful for us Jarry folks. I was really hoping they’d do something with the 193, currently it just gets to the VMR border and stops.
R T 12:29 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The 51 has been one of the busiest STM routes for a long time, as have the gripes about crowding.
My partner absolutely would vote for it as the best route, while my feeling is that “Nobody goes there any more. It’s too crowded.”
CE 13:01 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The 51 is great but I wish the 27 overlapped with it, at least into Mile End. I live east of Laurier metro and if I want to get to Mile End via St-Joseph, I have to take the 27 then transfer to the 51. That direction isn’t too bad because the 51 is so frequent but the 27 often departs every 30 minutes so they don’t always line up so well. One bus I’ve never really understood is the 46 – Casgrain. I’ve taken it a few times from Laurier metro but it’s a strange, short, and very infrequent route. I assume it’s a holdover from when a lot of workers would be going up to the factories but those days are long gone.
Kate 13:28 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The 46 really does feel like a relic. In my neighbourhood, the 135 de l’Esplanade and the 52 de Liège have a similar vibe. Now and then I spot a bus drifting past with nobody aboard.
The 13 on Christophe-Colomb and 14 on Atateken aren’t much better, although as north‑south routes, if they ran a little more often they might not always be so empty.
vasi, it had not occurred to me till now, but it would be great if the 193 could cross l’Acadie and continue on to the TMR stop of the REM.
R T 13:40 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The STM must agree about the 46, as it’s being eliminated.
Kate 14:01 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
Do you have a link for that, R T?
R T 14:05 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
All the changes can be viewed here:
https://refontebus2026-en.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/index.html
There’s a “New network”/”Current network” toggle on the “Explore the network” tab, and after selecting a route, it will not only show a map of the route but provide an infobox briefly describing what’s changing (if anything).
Kate 14:09 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
Excellent. Thank you.
R T 14:08 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
(The 46 has been “Replaced by line 119”, which has been significantly rerouted to go east from Outremont to Laurier station, rather than west to Côte-des-Neiges station.)
CE 14:31 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
The 14 could be a great bus! It’s a good north-south route where there’s really nothing between the orange line and the 45 and gives direct access between the Plateau and downtown/Old Montreal. The frequency is terrible though. I think it could be one of those lines that’s underused not because there isn’t demand, but because it’s so hard to work into a schedule considering it often only comes once an hour. It’s also a good bus for people who live in the northern part of the Plateau (or downtown) and want to go to Parc La Fontaine; I often see families with skates on that bus.
I lived on Christophe-Colombe many years ago and the 13 was one of the strangest bus routes. I rode it maybe twice. It has, I think, eight departures a day and only at rush hours. It was probably useful before the Metro opened but is usually pretty empty. Maybe they use it for training new drivers?
CE 14:35 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
RIP 46 but this new 119 will be pretty useful. I’m looking at the 13 and it looks like they’re extending the route north and adding more departures.
MarcG 14:42 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
There’s a simulator to test and compare the new routes available here. Ian, it looks like the 405 & 411 express busses between LG and Lakeshore/Macdonald will remain, at least?
CE 14:44 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
R T you’re killing my productivity with this tool! An interesting change is the eastern orange line buses (30, 31, 56).
GC 17:09 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
Thanks, R T. That tool is interesting to play around with. The new 119 might be useful to me, for getting to the REM or TMR.
Chris 20:21 on 2026-02-05 Permalink
Looks like the STM is not de-Americanizing, judging from the AWS link. Sigh.
James 10:11 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
I just love the NIMBY comments:
“Is this something that citizens need? It doesn’t fall in line with suburban living,” he said.
Lebel fears that by the time the STM determines the changes were a mistake, the impact on the neighbourhood may already be irreversible.
Wow…
Kate 11:06 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
Some bus routes around the southwestern boroughs were changed in summer 2024 (item from August that year) and there was a brief rending of garments about it – and then nothing. That will happen again this time. People use Google maps or a transit application and figure things out, and the hassle of changing a habit goes away.
Ian 11:23 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
@MarcG looking at the old routes/ new routes planner on the STM site from my location in Mile End to the MacDonald Campus…
the travel time with bus>metro>bus (current) is almost exactly the same amount of time as bus>metro>rem>bus (planned)… so literally no improvement or decline, really – although having an extra moving part in there worries me as transfer time and waiting around is always the wild card in a transit schedule…
SO basically it’s the same amount of travel time but a more complex set of connections. At least if the REM goes down it will still be the same amount of time to take the bus.
Nìcholas 18:11 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
Has anyone found a map of the new proposed network? As in a pdf like the plan du réseau, but what it would like if this was implemented. It’s annoying to have to click every route you want to see, especially as you may not know what’s there; I’d love to look at an area and see what is served and where the transfers and gaps are.
MarcG 18:27 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
I believe that the interactive map allows you to see that if you go to the “Explore the network” tab and then enter an address or click on the map and choose “Yes” to the popup.
Nìcholas 19:21 on 2026-02-06 Permalink
MarcG, thanks, that worked.
vasi 15:23 on 2026-02-07 Permalink
Oh no, they canceled the 30 bus, the line I use the most.
Kate 15:48 on 2026-02-07 Permalink
vasi, check what they’ve done with the 31, though.