A Montreal bus ride in the dead of summer can resemble a trip to a sauna at times, but the Société de transport de Montréal is looking into a way of changing that.

The STM has launched a pilot project by installing air conditioning on 15 buses running on seven bus lines in the city, and then asking users what they think of it.

Last year the STM dismissed the idea of air conditioned buses and metros as too expensive, but the transit corporation is now re-thinking the idea.

"We want to do a study on the impact on the carbon, the environmental impact," said STM spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay, "but also the cost."

And therein lies the hook, the STM is not saying for now how much installing such a system on a larger portion of the fleet would cost.

Instead, they are gauging the reaction of riders to the newfound comfort, and thus far, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

But the STM is also asking people whether they'd be willing to pay higher fares for a cooler ride.

"Here the buses are cheap anyway, public transit is cheaper than Toronto and all that," one rider told CTV Montreal's Derek Conlon. "So if we get air conditioning, it costs money, so we'll pay."

But not everyone necessarily agrees.

"If we had heat waves that would last more than two or three weeks, yes," one woman replied. "But (the heat) is just intermittent."

Other transit authorities like New York City have had air conditioned buses for decades.

The STM's survey continues through the end of August and there's no guarantee Montrealers will have air conditioned buses after that.

Because even if people want a more comfortable ride the STM will have to study the cost of installing air conditioning, the cost of the extra fuel to run it and the environmental impact.

In the meantime, even if bus riders wanted to try it they would have to be a bit lucky.

There is a single air conditioned bus running on the 10, 24, 103, 165, 173 and 535 bus lines. On the express 747 bus to Trudeau Airport, there are nine air conditioned buses currently running.