Getting Around Montréal: The STM, OPUS and How Fares Work

The operator and the fare authority are different bodies

The STM runs the métro and the bus network on the island of Montréal. It is a transit operator rather than a department of the City of Montreal, and it publishes its own schedules, service updates, network information and customer service.

The ARTM plans, organises and finances public transit across the greater Montréal metropolitan area, and it is the body that sets the fare schedule. A fare reform replaced the older arrangement in which each operator sold its own tickets with a system organised by zone and by mode, and it has been introduced in stages.

The practical rule that follows is simple. If the question is what a fare costs, or which fare covers a given journey, that is an ARTM question. If the question is whether a train is running or why a bus was late, that is an operator question.

The métro and the bus network

The STM operates the métro, a rubber-tyred system that gives the network a distinct feel compared with steel-wheel metros elsewhere. It runs four lines, referred to by colour rather than by number in everyday use: verte (green), orange, jaune (yellow) and bleue (blue). The interchanges between those lines are the busiest points on the island network.

The métro is dense in the centre of the island and thins toward the edges, which is why bus connections matter more the further out you are, and why a journey that looks short on a map can require a bus leg. In the older central sections, station entrances are often built into surrounding buildings rather than standing free, so a station can be easy to walk past.

The OPUS card and where fares live

OPUS is the rechargeable smart card used to carry fares in the Montréal region. The ARTM states that a card can hold a set number of fares at once — up to four — and that it accepts single, multi-trip, short-term and monthly products. There is a standard OPUS card, and there are designated and reduced-fare cards issued to particular groups.

Cards are bought and loaded at points of sale across the region, and can also be reloaded through the Chrono mobile app, which is the ARTM’s trip-planning and fare app. Virtual fares are available on Android phones through Chrono. Single tickets can also be carried on a separate occasional card, which exists precisely so that single fares and unlimited passes do not have to sit on the same card.

Reduced-fare photo OPUS cards are issued to students and to people aged 65 and over. Residents of the Montréal agglomeration aged 65 and over travel free under the Free 65+ All modes A fare, which the STM states covers bus, métro, exo train, REM and paratransit in zone A.

Fare zones A to D

Regional fares are organised by zone as well as by mode. Zone A is the agglomeration of Montréal. Zone B covers the agglomeration of Longueuil and Laval. Zone C covers the northern and southern suburbs. Zone D is outside the ARTM territory limit.

In practice, tickets named All modes A are valid on bus, métro, exo train and REM within zone A, and a journey that leaves zone A requires a fare covering the zones you cross. Because products and their names have changed with the fare reform, buying the fare for the whole journey before you travel — at a machine, a point of sale or in the app — is more reliable than buying legs separately. A single-trip All modes A ticket is the only fare that can be bought on board a bus, and it requires exact change.

The REM, exo and the multi-operator problem

Two other organisations matter as soon as you travel beyond the métro. The REM — the Réseau express métropolitain — is an automated light-rail network that is separate from the STM and has been opened in stages, so what is running today may not match an older map or a diagram still hanging in a station.

exo is a separate public transit authority created in 2017. It operates the commuter rail network, the bus network on the north and south shores, and paratransit services in its territory, which covers the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal along with the Kahnawake territory and the City of Saint-Jérôme. Commuter rail runs largely on shared track in a peak-direction pattern, so service concentrates around commuting hours and midday or weekend travel is far more limited than a métro rider would expect.

Because several operators serve one metropolitan area, a single journey can legitimately involve more than one of them. A complaint, a refund claim or a lost item belongs with whichever organisation actually ran the service you used.

Accessibility and paratransit

The métro was built long before modern accessibility standards, and the consequence is structural rather than cosmetic: only a portion of stations can be reached without stairs, and which ones is a moving list as work is completed. The STM publishes elevator access information for the métro station by station, alongside its broader universal accessibility pages.

For people who cannot use conventional transit, the STM operates paratransit — transport adapté — with its own eligibility criteria, its own OPUS card, and online trip booking through Mon transport adapté. exo also operates paratransit within its territory, and the ARTM publishes separate paratransit fare schedules and zones, because paratransit is priced and organised differently from conventional transit.