Public transit service in Montréal is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). STM operates the fourth most used transit system in North America.
STM traces its history back to the Montreal City Passenger Railway, which operated the city’s first streetcars in 1861. The last streetcars were withdrawn in 1959 and the Metro was opened in 1966. The name of the organization overseeing public transit in Montréal changed several times over the years. It was known as Société de Transport de la Communauté Urbaine De Montréal (STCUM) from 1985 until the reorganization of the city of Montréal in 2002, at which point STM was established.
Today, STM operates 4 metro lines and over 200 bus routes. As of 2011, the average daily ridership is 2,524,500 passengers across all modes.
The Montréal Metro rolling stock consists of 759 cars, all of which use rubber tires as opposed to steel wheels, similar to some lines in Paris. As a result, the Montréal rolling stock is modeled off of Paris's MP59 cars. The Montréal cars are not weatherproof because the entire system, including the yards and maintenance shops, are underground. In 2016, the driverless MPM-10 trains began entering service and will replace all the MR-63 trains by the end of 2018.
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Each station on the Montréal Metro in unique, having been designed by a different architect. Styles vary across the system. Montréal, along with Stockholm, were among the first subway systems in capitalist countries to feature public artwork.
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STM operates a fleet of over 1,800 buses over a network of more than 200 lines. Although the current fleet is built entirely by NovaBUS, other models used to run in the city. Since 2012, all new bus purchases have been for electric or diesel-electric hybrid buses.
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