STM testing air conditioning on city buses
A Montreal bus ride in the dead of summer can resemble a trip to a sauna at times, but the Société de transport de Montréal is looking into a way of changing that.
The STM has launched a pilot project by installing air conditioning on 15 buses running on seven bus lines in the city, and then asking users what they think of it.
Last year the STM dismissed the idea of air conditioned buses and metros as too expensive, but the transit corporation is now re-thinking the idea.
"We want to do a study on the impact on the carbon, the environmental impact," said STM spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay, "but also the cost."
And therein lies the hook, the STM is not saying for now how much installing such a system on a larger portion of the fleet would cost.
Instead, they are gauging the reaction of riders to the newfound comfort, and thus far, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
But the STM is also asking people whether they'd be willing to pay higher fares for a cooler ride.
"Here the buses are cheap anyway, public transit is cheaper than Toronto and all that," one rider told CTV Montreal's Derek Conlon. "So if we get air conditioning, it costs money, so we'll pay."
But not everyone necessarily agrees.
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The STM has launched a pilot project by installing air conditioning on 15 buses running on seven bus lines in the city, and then asking users what they think of it.
Last year the STM dismissed the idea of air conditioned buses and metros as too expensive, but the transit corporation is now re-thinking the idea.
"We want to do a study on the impact on the carbon, the environmental impact," said STM spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay, "but also the cost."
And therein lies the hook, the STM is not saying for now how much installing such a system on a larger portion of the fleet would cost.
Instead, they are gauging the reaction of riders to the newfound comfort, and thus far, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
But the STM is also asking people whether they'd be willing to pay higher fares for a cooler ride.
"Here the buses are cheap anyway, public transit is cheaper than Toronto and all that," one rider told CTV Montreal's Derek Conlon. "So if we get air conditioning, it costs money, so we'll pay."
But not everyone necessarily agrees.
Read More