MONTREAL - Freezing rain overnight caused major headaches for drivers and pedestrians in and around Montreal this morning.

Urgences Santé reported they received double the usual amount of calls beginning early Friday.

Despite the slippery roads and sidewalks, the City of Montreal said it is satisfied with the way they handled the first major storm of the season.

"We have 6,500 km of sidewalk and 4,100 km of streets…so maybe some of the sidewalks were not done (as quickly as people would have liked)," said city engineer Michel Frenette.

But a representative for the Société de Transport de Montréal bus drivers union said the City of Montreal "missed the boat" this morning by not spreading salt on the roads quickly enough.

Tommy Mouhteros told CTV Montreal the lack of salt on the roads meant there were "some fender benders" and caused buses to slide.

Buses based at the STM garage on Saint-Denis St., which serves the downtown area, were not operating Friday until 8:30 a.m. because of the conditions.

The garage in Saint-Laurent, which serves the West Island, began sending out buses shortly after 7 a.m.

The Société de Transport de Laval reported early Friday that services were fully operational, but would be slower than usual during the morning commute.

Caroline LaRose of Transport Quebec said they began salting Montreal highways at 1:30 a.m., and within 20 minutes all of the highways had been done.

Once highways were complete, they started laying salt on the access ramps, she said.

LaRose said they continued going over the roads until 8 a.m.

In Laval, she said a contractor is used to clear the highway roads, and their trucks didn't get out until 4 a.m.

"We are sorry for this, we know he was too late," LaRose said, referring to the contractor.

She said this contractor will be penalized, and noted that an accident on the 640 West occurred before roads had been salted.

Urgences Santé reported that calls related to the conditions started coming in at around 4 a.m.

By Friday at 8 a.m., they had already received 300 calls, double the normal amount.

Most calls were from people who have slipped and fallen, and others for accidents on the roads.

More personnel were called in to handle the situation, but Urgences Santé staff also had trouble coming into work Friday morning.

The freezing rain, which began early Friday, ended before noon.