Welcome to the Machine

I was almost impressed.

The REM’s Deux Montagnes line has been running for two months.

 

There have been delays, breakdowns and interruptions in service on the line but, because I do not ride the REM every day, most of my commutes aboard the Deux Montagnes line had been quick and efficient.

 

It’s the commuters who ride the REM every day who’ve been most inconvenienced by its unreliability; that is, until this week, when the REM’s unreliability caught up with me.

 

I suppose it was just a matter of time.

 

The morning rush hour train I had planned to take, was late. Finally, after a long wait, a train pulled into the station and the backlog of waiting people crowded aboard. No sooner had we sat down than an announcement was made telling us to evacuate the train, which promptly backed out of the station to be replaced by another, inevitably, even more crowded train.

REM overcrowding

With every stop, more and more waiting people pushed onto the train. It was a case of public transit at its worst – expensive, unreliable, and overcrowded. For all I know, we may have surpassed the safety limit for number of passengers.

At 72 metres underground, Edouard Montpetit station is billed as the deepest in Canada

I have been on the REM during snowstorms, in freezing rain and in subzero conditions and it functioned without a hitch, and then, in the same conditions, the REM falls far short, so, for commuters, service is very much hit or miss.

 

The Reseau express metropolitaine (REM) must do better.

 

REM partners have already been scolded a couple of times by the provincial transport minister for spotty service on the South Shore section.

 

Hopefully, REM partners are working out the kinks with a view to making the service brilliantly dependable.

 

Apart from its unreliability, my biggest complaint would be rush hour overcrowding.

 

The potential for major disruption remains and, with so many motors, switches, relays and doors opening and closing at so many stations, and so many trains out on the line at the same time, accelerating, cruising and braking, a massive problem seems inevitable.

 

Yes, the Montreal metro faces those same challenges, but the REM had Montreal’s outdoor weather to factor into its design plans.

 

The laws of nature stipulate that as rolling stock and infrastructure age, a major disruption becomes more probable.

 

I sincerely hope a major disruption can be avoided and, with attentive and diligent maintenance and monitoring, perhaps the unlikely is possible.

 

REM riding is not cheap, although it’s nice to see that most parking is free.

 

My inner worrywart still finds it extremely disconcerting that a machine drives it, while humans ride it.

 

In the event of an emergency, signs in the train say talk to the “operator”, but there is no operator; at best, there may be a remote monitor of the machine. Emergencies are not likely to fare well without a human REM representative aboard.

Instructions for emergencies

I was slightly consoled when, one weekday afternoon, I spotted a REM employee on the train I was riding. She told me she was a monitor, and said she rides trains eight times a day.

 

I was riding it one morning earlier this month, when the crowded rush hour train stopped at a station, no doors opened, and I heard some faceless passenger mutter a mostly mystified “ok”. Then the train moved slightly forward, and the doors opened, but it took significantly longer for the doors to close, allowing subzero outdoor air to flow into the train. Once the doors closed, the train crept very slowly from Canora into the tunnel, with some passengers exchanging curious expressions. 

 

People try to appear unconcerned, trusting that the machine driving the train will figure it out, and safely do the correct thing.

 

AI may not be driving our cars yet, but it’s driving our train.

 

All hail the algorithm.

 

The best REM commuters can hope for in the event of an emergency is that an attentive and well-trained (pun unintended) human employee is looking through one of the camera bubbles positioned around the inside of the train.

 

I have visions of riders pressing the emergency button to speak to an “operator” only to hear the robotic response, “Welcome to the machine”.