Despite strides to improve service on Montreal's STM transport network, statistics show that the use of public transit has declined steadily over a period of five years.
According to information obtained by the Montreal Gazette in an access-to-information request, the STM's bus network currently touts 13 per cent fewer users than they did in 2012.
It may seem a nominal figure, but it means that the STM lost more than 34 million trips per year.
The data - spanning from 2012 to 2017 - shows the most significant drop came in 2015 when ridership dropped 6.38 per cent.
Nine out of the city's 10 most popular bus routes lost users. Seven of them faced a decline of 12 per cent or more.
These figures are indicative of a larger problem of dwindling public transit use across North America, despite investments to electrify and improve service overall.
In Montreal, 300 new hybrid buses are expected to be added to the STM's fleet by 2020 as part of an investment in bus service. Last year, they boosted their reserved lanes to 350 km on the island last year, added a real-time online service to track buses, and created a new operations centre.
But problems with the bus netwok lie elsewhere, according to STM officials.
In a written statement to the Montreal Gazette, spokesperson Amelie Regis blamed the decrease on construction and increased congestion, as well as external factors such as Bixi, Uber, and car-sharing.
Metro use, however has improved - increasing by 4.25 per cent during the same five-year period.
Montrealers took 429.5 million metro trips in 2017.
