MONTREAL - The Montreal Transit Commission (STM) is planning to hike fares in 2011.

It also plans to introduce some new fares for evening commuters, and run deficit-free for the next fiscal year.

The STM confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the price for a monthly pass will rise $2.75 to $72.75, which is 50 per cent more than a pass cost in 2002, when the STM began annual fare hikes.

The transit agency says the ultimate goal of all fare hikes is to improve service for commuters, pointing to its September promise to provide service every ten minutes or less on 31 bus routes, and the creation of express bus routes, including the 747 between downtown and Trudeau airport.

STM vice-chairman Marvin Rotrand says this is still less expensive than in Toronto or Vancouver, and says more service will expand another five per cent in 2011.

"What riders will note in Montreal is that there's going to be a huge boost in bus service next year," he said.

"We're going to be completely doing a revision of the night bus service, and as well we're going to continue programs that began in 2010."

Those revisions include being able to travel all evening, every evening, for the price of a single fare.

Rotrand said the STM will also work at eliminating a longstanding complaint from commuters who use Montreal Transit Agency (AMT) trains.

"The buses will actually leave after the train has departed the station."

For 2011, the STM is planning to implement the much-discussed express bus link between Fairview Pointe Claire and Cote Vertu metro.

Further, commuters should expect buses to be less crowded," said Rotrand.

"There are going to be 99 additional departures in rush hours for various routes and 283 departures off peak hours. In other words, there's going to be a lot less crowding," he said.

It will also buy more than 300 buses, some of which will replace vehicles that have reached the end of their service life.

Louise Harel, leader of the opposition Vision Montreal party, said the rate hike is excessive, and buses will be less crowded because transit users will stay away.

Normand Parisien, executive director of Transport 2000, a public transit watchdog group, agrees fares are too high.

"We have called for a freeze on transit fares for 2011," he said.