My Alerts Montréal, March 7, 2011 The Société de transport de Montréal (STM), through the Chairman of its Board of Directors, Mr. Michael Labrecque, today announced the launch of a completely new, free, personalized service – a subscription to métro service status alerts by métro line and by time period via an email address.
“This new service targeted at both regular and occasional transit users will keep them informed on the service status for the entire métro network, thus enabling them to plan their trips more efficiently and avoid possible service disruptions, whatever the cause,” declared Mr. Labrecque.
“In this regard, I would like to emphasize that the cars in the Montréal métro travel 7 300 hours per year, or some 20 hours per day throughout the network. In 2010 service disruptions lasting more than twenty minutes totalled only twenty-four hours and affected only a few portions of the line, this being the equivalent of fewer than twenty hours in total on the entire network! The main causes of these disruptions were as follows: mischief and ill passengers (52% of disruptions), rolling stock (17%), systems and equipment in the tunnel for operating the métro, (17%) and, finally, the remainder is due to various causes such as outside construction work carried out near our installations,” explained the chairman.
“The STM has already been on Twitter and Facebook for a year, but the subscription to the métro service status alerts provides an additional benefit, as clients will be able to receive personalized information on métro service via SMS or email. Subscription to the métro service status alerts is available on the www.stm.info site via a simple-to-complete form,” he added.
The chairman also pointed out that “this service is the definitive tool for clients to find out the service status for the time periods that are of interest to them and for the lines of their choice. In fact, unlike a Twitter alert, clients will not have to access their account and sort out the information. They will receive only the information that is of interest to them because they will have pre-selected it.”
In conclusion, Mr. Labrecque explained that “because the STM wants to provide customized information, increasingly adapted to its various clientele, it plans to implement a service this spring providing information on the service status of elevators. During the same period, the métro service status will also be available on the mobile site, m.stm.info.”
In 2010 the STM received the award for Outstanding Public Transportation System in North America from the American Public Transportation Association. This award was in recognition of the excellent results it achieved between 2007 and 2009 in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, and the Société intends to continue to build on this momentum.
