“Projet Montréal is incapable of assuring the safety of Montrealers in its transit network,” Aref Salem says.
Montreal’s opposition party is blasting the Société de transport de Montréal’s decision to close the Cabot Square entrance of the Atwater métro station for the duration of the cold season.
Last week, the city’s transit agency announced on X that it would close the entrance immediately until April 30, 2025, without providing an explanation.
Speaking at Monday’s city council meeting, opposition leader Aref Salem said the STM justified the closure saying it was to reduce the incidence of mischief and “undesirable behaviour,” like drug consumption and intimidation. The entrance on de Maisonneuve Blvd., at the corner of Atwater Ave., remains open, as does the entrance from the Alexis-Nihon shopping centre.
Salem said the decision is yet more evidence that rather than dealing with the problem of chronic homelessness, the Plante administration prefers to ignore it. He called the decision “completely absurd.”
“If we follow this logic, should the entrances of the Berri-UQAM, Lionel-Groulx, Beaudry, Papineau, Bonaventure also close their doors? In addition to reducing access to users of the fifth-most popular station, this radical decision surely shows a failure of the Plante administration,” Salem said. “Even after reinforcing security agents in the métro network, Projet Montréal is incapable of assuring the safety of Montrealers in its transit network.”
In response, executive committee chairperson Luc Rabouin congratulated the city’s transit agency for a new plan that it presented last week to increase the presence of security officers throughout the métro network.
“It’s a complete plan with concrete measures that aim to improve the safety of 800,000 people per day who take public transit,” Rabouin said. “Our responsibility is to assure that people who take the métro feel safe and that they continue to take transit, because it is the backbone of the city’s economy.”
Salem quipped that Rabouin shouldn’t congratulate the STM for closing the métro entrance, and should instead be working toward a solution to a problem that has forced people who live on the street to use the métro network as a place to stay warm.
“The Plante administration is closing its eyes to a social crisis, so if we don’t want to have our métros as shelters, what is the plan so people don’t use it as a shelter?”
Rabouin did not have an answer to that question, but said only the STM is well equipped to handle the issue.
The STM also unveiled a plan to increase patrols within its métro network.