Montreal transit authority launches plan to make Metro safer, cleaner
Surveillance not solution to social problem, says community organizer
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) will be adding new staff in the city's Metro stations to make public transit in Montreal safer and cleaner.
Starting this summer, 20 safety ambassadors — a newly-created hybrid position — and 20 sanitation workers will be deployed in Metro stations, while an extra 20 special constables will join the network beginning in the fall.
In the first three months of 2023 alone, there were 501 complaints from users about feeling unsafe on buses and in Metro stations, with problems ranging from smoking to drug use, according to data provided by the STM.
The trend is increasing. In 2022, there were 983 complaints. In 2021 there were 716 and in 2020, there were 662.
"Last winter was rough," said STM board chair Éric Alan Caldwell. "More people need housing, more people need care from the health network, and there's more issues about substance abuse, and that's why we have to readjust."
"The STM [transports] close to 1 million riders per day. We have to make sure the ride is safe and clean," Caldwell said.
The new safety ambassadors on the ground — donning their own distinct uniforms — will patrol stations with the goal of helping customers, assisting in major events and watching for potential safety issues.
"They will be our eyes or ears and they will be underground with our customers. They will be able to answer questions to respond if the help is needed," said Caldwell.
The additional special constables — who have the power to make arrests for criminal offences on public transit — will also shore up security, employing repressive tactics when necessary, said Caldwell.
In a news release, the STM said it needs to deploy the extra sanitation workers, especially in "problematic stations" downtown, to keep stations tidy and respond to the "changing profile of people passing through or seeking refuge in the Metro network."
Safety or surveillance?
Sarah Doyon, the executive director of Trajectoire Québec, welcomes the news of more staff. Her organization promotes citizens' rights to public transportation throughout Quebec.
"More staff means more feeling of safety. We hope that it makes a difference for public transit users," she said.
Doyon regularly rides the Metro, often with her children. But although she considers the underground system safe most of the time, she has been hearing from Montrealers who say they no longer feel safe taking the Metro.
"We even have people telling us that they stopped using the Metro to take their kids to kindergarten [and go] by car instead,"she said.
But some are calling the purpose of the measures — even the STM data on user complaints — into question.
Catherine Marcoux is a community organizer at RAPSIM, a network of organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness.
"We're talking a lot about this feeling of safety, not security issues as such, but more the feeling that the users have of insecurity," she said.
According to Marcoux, the real problem lies in a lack of funding for social housing, emergency shelters and public spaces for people experiencing homelessness.
"Right now, public spaces are getting smaller and smaller because there's an increase in surveillance from the police. So the last remaining place that's safe for people right now, it's the Metro station," she said.
While Marcoux says the STM does not have the power to build social housing or fund emergency services, the public transit agency could find other ways, such as adding more bathrooms and garbage cans, to keep stations clean.
"The STM is answering a problem that is a social problem with security measures, and we don't think it's the right solution."
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