Bus fares still different in Laval and Montreal

The problem remains. In Montreal, a user can benefit from a discount of $4.50 by charging a batch of six tickets at $12 instead of buying a single ticket at $2.75. The user cannot use these tickets in one of the three metro stations in Laval.

On the other hand a regular Laval user has to pay $105 to charge the TRAM 3 card (the monthly Train-Bus-Metro card) if they want to visit Montreal.

Yet, residents of Longueuil have the privilege, since the construction of their metro in 1966 to use the regular CAM card offered by the STM. They only have to pay $66.25 to charge their Opus card.

The charge cards will be introduced gradually up until 2009. From now until then, the old system will remain in place until people adapt and use up tickets sitting in the bottom of their drawers.

Six months from now, however, no new tickets at the regular fare will be sold to users on the Montreal network. They will be replaced by a magnetic card. This card can hold either one or six tickets. The Société de transport de Laval (STL) has already replaced it’s booklet of eight tickets by their own magnetic card.

The magnetic cards for the STM will not permit any harmonization; they will not work anywhere other than the Montreal network.

“There is already some correspondence between the mayor of Laval and Montreal on the subject of this problem,” assures STL president Jean-Jacques Beldié. “It’s a problem that will be resolved by the CCM (Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal). We hope that it will be solved before the end of the year.”