The Montreal Metro is the fastest way to get around town, provided it goes where you want to go. These instructions might look a little involved, but it's really all common sense. This is just if you really have no clue.
Step 1
Find your closest Metro station. They run under René Levesque and (usually more conveniently) Maisonneuve and Ste Catherine's downtown. One continues East, and the other turns north at Berri, which is adjacent to St Denis. Stations are marked by a characteristic blue sign with a white arrow in a circle pointed downward.
Step 2
Know roughly where you're going and what Metro station you want to go to. If you don't know the exact station, there are maps of Montreal in the station, as well as on the streets around town.
Step 3
Enter the station; unlike in New York, each entrance is almost always good to board for either direction of travel.
Step 4
Buy a ticket either from a vending machine or from the booth by the turnstiles. The Laurier street entrance to the Laurier metro is not manned, but (I believe) it does have a dispensing machine.
Step 5
Know where you're going. The trains are listed by the terminal station they are going towards. Look at the map, and find your present station and your destination station, and note the end-station that you have to travel toward.
Step 6
Consider that you may have to transfer. Note what station you will have to transfer at, and which direction you'll have to go when you're there (although if you forget, there are maps in the trains.)
Step 7
Go downstairs and get on!
Tips
- During rush hour, the metro will be packed, and on rare occasions it will be difficult to board. Don't ever not board a train because it is too full. The next one will be equally full. Just cram yourself in, or take another form of transportation.
- You stand to save a lot of money by buying 6-packs of tickets (which are $2 each) rather than single tickets (which are $2.75). Monthly cards are usually only worthwhile if you commute, unless you can get the student discount which is substantial.
- Your ticket is good everywhere on the STM for 2 hours following the first time you scan it.
- Trains generally run every 7 minutes, although they come much more often at and near rush hours, and only every 9-12 minutes late at night.
- Remember buses! The most useful bus for non-Montrealers' purposes is probably the 80. It runs north and south on Park Avenue very often, coming down to Place-Des Arts Metro station. If you transfer from the metro to the bus, be sure and follow the signs and note that often you need to go out a different exit depending on which direction you're going (Nord, Sud, Est, or Ouest = North, South, East, West). The St Laurent bus also goes quite often Friday and Saturday nights to transport the party crowd.
Warnings
- DO NOT assume that because you are going to a certain street, that you should go to that street's corresponding Metro station. Many streets are VERY long. Check the detailed city maps in the metro station, or Google maps, to determine what the closest metro station actually is.
- The Metro does not serve Mile End well. The best way to get to Mile End is to go to Place-Des-Arts Metro station and ride the 80 North, but if you're up north it's best to ride the 80 south from Parc.
