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Julie Bouthillette knows that longer waiting time on the platform at the Berri-UQÀM station means it could take her an hour longer to get to her home in Blainville.

“I have to factor in extra time, because if I miss too many métros, it’s a domino effect and I’ll miss my (commuter) train at the De La Concorde station,” Bouthillette said Monday afternoon. “If I miss my train, I have to wait a half hour or longer.”

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Bouthillette’s experience bears out the story told by statistics unveiled last week by city’s transit agency: there’s been a 5.5 per cent jump in ridership in the métro system. Many of those new riders are cramming into overcrowded cars, and causing longer lineups than usual.

Photo by Dave-Sidaway / Montreal Gazette

At the Berri-UQÀM station Monday afternoon, Lydia Jovani said she has been taking the métro her whole life and has never seen it as crowded as it has been recently.

“It’s annoying, mostly, because I don’t like waiting,” Jovani said while waiting at the platform to board an Orange Line train heading north to Montmorency. “And in the morning, it’s a lot worse.”