STM bus complaints rise, but is service worse?

The number of complaints logged at the STM about late buses has risen from around 6,000 in 2010 to more than 8,000 last year.

But the transit agency says that doesn't necessarily the service is getting worse. It points out that the 8,000 complaints pale in comparison to the more than 300 million rides STM users took in 2014.

Ridership is also up significantly, but perhaps most importantly, complaining has gotten easier now that Facebook and Twitter are in widespread use.

STM President Philippe Schnobb did admit service isn’t perfect, but said late buses aren’t always the STM's fault.

"When someone makes a complaint, directly to me via Twitter or Facebook, what I do is I look at the schedule and I realize most of the time, the schedule is one bus every three or five minutes. If the bus doesn’t come, most of the time it’s for reasons that are completely out of our control, such as traffic or construction or snow removal operations,” said Schnobb.

The STM says it’s working on putting 175 kilometres of dedicated bus lanes to help curb wait times.