The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM; ) is a
transportation authority that plans, finances and integrates
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
in
Greater Montreal
Greater Montreal (, ) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a population of 4,02 ...
in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada. The organization was created by the
Government of Quebec
The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to refer to the executive of the day (i.e. Minister of the Crown, mini ...
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.
History
Attempts at planning, coordinating, operating and integrating regional public transit in the Greater Montreal area have been made since 1970, with the mandates from different levels of government, including: (BTM), accountable to the Montreal Urban Community; (BAREM, unrelated to the current
REM); (COTREM), manated by the
Quebec Ministry of Transportation (MTQ), the (CMTC), created by an Act of the National Assembly and; Divisions of the MTQ itself.
Following the publishing of the Pichette Report on governance of Greater Montreal, the
Quebec government takes steps to create a single agency for governing transit, reporting directly to the minister (and not the ministry) of transport.
In December 1995, the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
enacts a law creating the (AMT), giving it the mission "to support, develop, coordinate and promote shared transportation, including special transportation services for the handicapped, to improve suburban train services and ensure their development, to foster the integration of the services provided by various modes of transportation and to increase the efficiency of traffic corridors." It supplants the CMTC and inherits the
commuter rail
Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...
operations from the
Société de transport de Montréal
The Société de transport de Montréal (, STM; ) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Railwa ...
. The AMT went on to oversee the Montreal area's transit strategy and operated
commuter rail
Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...
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 Radio-Canada may refer to:
* CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
*Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network
*Ici Radio-Canada Première
Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...
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.
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
Exo, stylized as exo and officially known as the (, RTM; ), is a public transport, public transport system in Greater Montreal, including the Island of Montreal, Laval, Quebec, Laval (Île Jésus), and communities along both the North Shore (L ...
(RTM). The AMT's planning mandate went to the ARTM, while the operation of the various
commuter rail
Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...
lines across the Greater Montreal became the responsibility of the RTM (later rebranded
Exo
Exo (; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay Zhang, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen (singer), Chen, Chanyeol, ...
).
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 de transport de Longueuil (, RTL; ) is a public transit system in the city of Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, and nearby communities on the South Shore of Montreal. The RTL had an annual ridership of 34,447,686 in 2013.
History
RTL was offic ...
,
Réseau express métropolitain
The Réseau express métropolitain (REM; ) is a Medium-capacity rail system, light metro rapid transit system in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As of June 2025, it consists of five stations spanning 16 km, connecting Downtown Montreal with th ...
,
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
Exo (; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay Zhang, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen (singer), Chen, Chanyeol, ...
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.
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.
Fare payment
Exo provides passengers a ''Opus+'' subscription which automatically debits the passenger's
bank account
A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transaction
A financial transaction is an Contract, agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, ...
or
credit card and adds the pass to the passenger's Opus card.
Funding
The ARTM is responsible for the structure, sale, collection and validation of transit fares, and a large part of the financing of public transit on its territory.
Sources of financing include:
* taxes on gas and vehicle registration charged on the authority's territory
* the sale of fares, payments from paid parking spaces and from fines
* allocations from the provincial budget, either for public transit operations or for large-scale projects
* royalties collected to finance a new service offer
* contributions made by municipalities in the territory or those outside of the territory served by Exo.
The majority of expenses are service contracts held with public transit authorities and with the REM. In 2025, these costs amounted to 89% of the ARTM's budget. Transit operators are payed according to their fixed costs and the distance their services have travelled. Other expenses include metropolitan-scale infrastructure such as bus terminuses, ticket offices and the fare management system, as well as service planning and operations.
Uniform signage
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.
Assets and equipment
The ARTM owns certain equipment of a metropolitan or inter-agency nature, and contracts their operation to the agency on whose territory it is. Notably, it owns and manages a few bus terminals:
*
Angrignon
*
Brossard
Brossard ( , , ) is a municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal, Greater Montreal area. According to the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with ...
*
Cartier
*
Centre-Ville
*
Côte-Vertu
*
Gare d'autocars de Montréal
*
Henri-Bourassa
*
Le Carrefour
*
Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...
*
De Montarville
*
Dorval
*
Montmorency
*
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
*
Radisson
The ARTM also owns and manages other assets such as:
* Some
park and ride lots
* Reserved bus lanes and
BRT infrastructure
* Ticket offices
* The
Opus card system
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 2031.
* Extending the
Pie-IX BRT system to
Notre-Dame Street
Notre-Dame Street (officially in ) is a historic east–west street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs parallel to the Saint Lawrence River, from Lachine, Quebec, Lachine to the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal, island in Poi ...
. The extension is due to open in 2027.
* 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.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Autorite regionale de transport metropolitain
Exo (public transit)
Transport in Montreal
2017 establishments in Canada
2010s establishments in Quebec