STM announces operation to 'reassure' Metro users as safety concerns grow
Plan involves redeployment of special constables but no additional staff
Montreal's transit agency on Wednesday announced a plan to reassure Metro users about their safety.
The plan includes no additional resources but will see special constables redeployed to stations the agency has flagged as problematic.
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has said it is receiving more complaints from transit riders who feel unsafe while taking the Metro and Montreal police have reported that more homeless people and drug users are using the transit network.
More recently, two prominent Quebecers, commentator Richard Martineau and comedian Alexandre Champagne, reported instances of family members being assaulted on the Metro.
Éric Alan Caldwell, the chair of the board of directors of the STM, said security staff will be more visible thanks to the new plan, but the agency can't solve the broader social issues that lead people to take shelter in the Metro.
"It's bigger than us," he said at a morning news conference. "As long as there's a housing crisis and the health system allows difficult cases to slip through the cracks, it'll be a problem for us."
Caldwell said Montreal is asking other levels of government for more money and wants the health-care system to do a better job caring for people who use drugs or have mental illnesses.
Jocelyn Latulippe, the director of security and fire safety for the STM, said the crux of the agency's new plan is to put special constables and security ambassadors where they will be more visible and accessible.
He identified 10 problematic stations where agents will spend more time: Frontenac, Joliette, Papineau, Beaudry, Lionel-Groulx, Bonaventure, Atwater, Jarry, Mont-Royal and Jean-Talon.
"The need for our staff has exponentially increased," he said. "Right now we're investing a lot in overtime hours.… We're adding resources to the necessary places."
Ensemble Montréal, the Official Opposition at city hall, issued a media release calling for more STM security staff and a telephone and text line so users can obtain immediate assistance in the event of an emergency or a safety problem, like Toronto has.
Steven Laperrière, the general manager at RAPLIQ, which advocates for more accessibility on public transit, said the STM has reacted too slowly and is only acting now because of the public incidents involving celebrities' family members.
He said people with disabilities are at particular risk of feeling unsafe.
"If we get accessibility done but people don't feel safe in the Metro, what's the point?" he said. "They have to do better. It's not enough. ... It's a Band-Aid on a huge problem."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Shahroze Rauf