Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain

The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM; English: Metropolitan Regional Transportation Authority) is an umbrella organization that manages and integrates road transport and public transport in Greater Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The organization was created by the Government of Quebec on June 1, 2017, replacing the former planning mandate of the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT). It has assumed other key initiatives including Opus card operation and multiple other projects supporting transit.

Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain

Agency overview
Formed	June 1, 2017
Jurisdiction	Greater Montreal
Headquarters	700 rue de la Gauchetière, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Annual budget	CA$2,470.6 million (2023)
Agency executives	Ginette Sylvain , chairperson Benoît Gendron , CEO
Website	http://www.artm.quebec

History

Since 1996, the Montreal area's transit strategy was overseen by the Agence métropolitain de transport (AMT). The AMT also operated commuter rail lines, express bus lines and park and ride lots. In May 2014, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard announced in his inaugural speech his intention to review the AMT's mandate. In April 2015, Radio-Canada reported that the provincial government intended to replace the AMT with two organizations: one to plan; and one to operate trains, suburban buses and oversee the other transit operators.

In November 2015, Bill 76, An Act to modify mainly the organization and governance of shared transportation in the Montréal metropolitan area, was introduced in the National Assembly of Quebec, implementing the government's intentions for reorganization. It was given royal assent on May 20, 2016.

On June 1, 2017, Bill 76 was implemented: the AMT was officially dissolved and replaced by two newly created organizations: the ARTM and the Réseau de transport métropolitain (RTM). The AMT's planning mandate went to the ARTM, while the operation of the various commuter rail lines across the Greater Montreal became the responsibility of the RTM (later rebranded Exo).

Role and relationship in Montreal public transit

The ARTM plays a role of "organizing authority" in the governance model for public transit put in place by the Government of Quebec in the Montreal area:

• The Quebec government sets the transit strategic direction
• The Montreal Metropolitan Community directs and sets transit policies
• The ARTM plans, finances, organizes, develops and promotes an integrated transit network
• Transit operators – namely, Exo, Réseau de transport de Longueuil, Réseau express métropolitain, Société de transport de Laval and Société de transport de Montréal – execute, build and maintain transit operations throughout the ARTM area

Organization

The ARTM's board of directors consists of:

• ten independent members
  • the chair and six regular members appointed Government of Quebec
  • three members appointed by the Montreal Metropolitan Community council
• five mayors from the ARTM's jurisdiction

Fare structure

The ARTM is responsible for setting public transit fares in the Greater Montreal area, including fare collection technology and the Opus transit card system. It began work to simplify the fare structure in 2021, with the aim of reducing the number of fare zones and retiring the majority of the 700 different fare types available on the territory.

There are two primary types of fares:

• Bus fares are valid on buses anywhere in the territory (zones A, B and C, including between zones. Out-of-territory bus tickets are valid on Exo bus services that operate between zones C and D.
• All Modes fares are zone-specific (A, AB, ABC or ABCD) but are valid on any mode of transit provided in those zones (bus, commuter train, REM, river shuttle or métro).

You can buy fares valid for:

• 1, 2 or 10 trips. Trips may involve an unlimited number of transfers on valid modes and zones, for up to 90 or 120 minutes.
• Unlimited trips for an evening, weekend, 24 hours, 3 days or a month.

Reduced fares are available for children, students over 18, and people aged 65 and over. Children aged 11 and under ride for free.

The fare schedule includes more specific and less flexible fares for individual public transit operators and Exo bus sectors. Paratransit has its own fare schedule for registered users.

Fare zones

The ARTM is progressively implementing a fare system with four zones across its territory, named from A to D.

  Fare zone A - Agglomeration of Montréal

  Fare zone B - Laval and Agglomeration of Longueuil

  Fare zone C - Southern and Northern suburbs

  Fare zone D - Areas served by exo but outside of ARTM jurisdiction

Prior to July 1, 2021, the ARTM operated 8 zones for train and monthly passes, numbered 1 to 8. Progressively since 2021, fares have been introduced for all modes of transit using combinations of A, AB, ABC and ABCD, and for buses within ABC as well as between C and D.

As of the fare schedule of July 1, 2024, only train-specific and certain municipalities use the old zones. Public transit authorities operating in the ARTM territory new fares in the transit agencies operating within the ARTM territory.

Uniform signage

Network icons in the new Signalétique métropolitaine

• 
  Metro network icon
• 
  Commuter train network icon
• 
  Bus network icon
• 
  SRB network icon
• 
  REM network icon

In 2018, the ARTM gave the Société de transport de Montréal the mandate to develop standards for a harmonized metropolitan signage for public transit agencies to use, based on their recent revision to signage of the Montreal Metro. In July 2023, the ARTM unveiled its updated metropolitan transit network map, in time for the inauguration of the first branch of the REM.

Park and ride

Main article: ARTM park and ride lots

The ARTM also is responsible for all Park and ride lots in the Greater Montreal region. It runs 61 park-and-ride lots, many that are connected to either metropolitan bus terminuses, STM Metro stations, or Exo commuter rail stations.

In addition, the agency also organizes carpooling, offering unloading spaces near public transit services in several of its park-and-ride lots, which allow for transfers to the bus, Metro or commuter train.

Future projects

The ARTM is undertaking several major projects:

• Metro extensions: Extending the Blue Line by five stations to Anjou. The extension is slated to open in 2030
• Extending the Pie-IX BRT system to Notre-Dame Street. The extension is due to open in 2027.
• Study a major transit solution for the Grand Sud-Ouest area in Montreal. The project could possibly consist of a new light rail line or an extension of the Green Line into LaSalle, Lachine and Dorval.
• Study a major transit solution to replace the cancelled REM de l'Est project, named PSE. In January 2023, it was revealed that the ARTM was planning on proposing a 21-kilometre light rail line consisting of 22 stations, at a cost of $10.4 billion.