REM Nightmares Persist

If you enjoy nightmares and haven’t had one in a while, take the REM. 

I only take it two days a week. 

This week, I took it Tuesday and Wednesday. 

On Tuesday when I rode it, we were forced to change trains twice. Picture the scene; throngs of uncertain people slowly moving through stations as REM workers, some equipped with bullhorns, shouted instructions at us. The trains were absolutely packed. When I asked one of the REM employees what the issue was, he told me it was a broken track and added, “It’s a **** show”. I agreed and thanked him for his help. By the time I rode the REM home, service was smoother, but the train was still overcrowded. 

On Wednesday morning when I rode the REM, the train just sat at stations for long periods of time. No explanation. Finally, as we were parked at one station, we heard an announcement that there was a slowdown due to a technical problem. Vague. The ride was extremely slow and seriously overcrowded. At each stop, when we finally got to a station, people would push their way into the already overcrowded train car. The stations themselves were packed with people when we pulled in - and just as packed with people when the train left, all of them hoping the next train might have room for them to board. As we entered the tunnel, I stood up, getting ready to push my way out at Edouard Montpetit station. At about the same time, there was an announcement that the train would not be stopping at Edouard Montpetit station. I sat back down. Got to work 30 minutes late and disgusted with the crappy REM.

It’s an embarrassment to 2026, a time when technology and basic planning usually manage to make life better for people. 

I am generally not a fan of unregulated AI, but perhaps it should have been given more responsibility for REM design and planning. 

I heard the REM was not working again yesterday. 

All this for $200 a month. 

CDPQ Infra should be held accountable. 

I hope class action lawsuits are in the works. 

It’s not like the line can be dismantled and improved. This is it. This is as good as it gets for Montreal commuters. 

Overpriced. Overcrowded. Unreliable. Uncomfortable.

I miss the train, where you sat in a comfortable seat and could actually look out the windows instead of having your back to them. On the train, which the REM unilaterally cannibalized, you could read, work, or study, while getting to your destination on time. Now you sit, if you're lucky enough to get a seat during rush hour, like a sardine wedged into a can with a bunch of other sardines on hard plastic seats.

This is the big transportation solution we've been waiting for.

It's shameful.

Quite a few people have been taking a 4:55 a.m. bus from Deux Montagnes to get to work by 6 a.m. The bus has been providing service for five years. The REM and Allo Exo have just cancelled that bus and not replaced it with anything. Train service starts much later in the morning. Why can’t they leave that one bus in place for these early commuters?

It’s blatant disregard for the people who’ve been expecting competent public transit service. 

I can hardly wait for next week.

REM Abandons Early Risers

Every weekday for the last five years, people have been lining up to take the 4:55 a.m. bus from Deux Montagnes to Montreal. They have early jobs. As of next month, the 4:55 a.m. bus is being eliminated. It would be no problem if the REM replaced the bus with a train at the same time, but there will be no such train, or bus. It has decided those early morning workers will be given no such option. The early risers in Deux Montagnes, and at every other stop down the line, are abandoned. They are being denied REM service because they work too early. They’re being denied bus service because they work too early. How can you justify removing the only service that has been in place for five years without replacing it? The REM claims it cannot implement a 4:55 a.m. train from Deux Montagnes train because it needs the overnight hours to do maintenance. Why not hire more maintenance personnel to accomplish more maintenance in a shorter period? Why not implement a 4:55 a.m. train from Deux Montagnes and then no other train until regular weekday service begins? Better still, why not leave the one early bus in place? Many of these early commuters are distraught, as their worlds are being turned upside down. These people are ignored and abandoned because they work too early?

The photo, taken in the fall, shows people lined up for the 4:55 a.m. bus from Deux Montagnes. People are lined up at that time at each of the other 14 stops between Deux Montagnes and Montreal. So far, with its frequent breakdowns, disruptions and delays, the REM has proven an embarrassment to competent public transit services around the world Be that as it may, early workers are entitled to the same shoddy service you try to provide all commuters riding the REM to and from their jobs. The Caisse de depot et du placement du Quebec is raking in commuters’ money. The website for la Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (lacaisse.com) says, “When you take the REM, you help pay for your retirement” – now it needs the disclaimer, “but if you are a commuter who starts work in Montreal at 6 a.m., you can forget about paying for your retirement by riding the REM.”

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”.