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I’m here today to praise the Société de transport de Montréal. Because, hey, somebody has to.

The STM has been, if not awash in discouraging news as of late, then at least dampened by it.

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Last month, the latest figures in the STM’s annual report showed a 0.9-per-cent drop in ridership for 2015, representing some four million fewer trips taken by Montreal public-transit users, the first time since 2004 that such a dip has been recorded.

This week, a report in Métro revealed that while there may have been fewer STM users last year, they still managed to file 15,286 complaints about its service in 2015, up by a remarkable 18 per cent from the 12,965 filed in 2014.

So I’m afraid to say there are, and will continue to be, ample reasons to criticize the STM, an activity this column has enjoyed in the past, and in which it will continue to dabble in the future.

But as I mentioned off the top, today is not such a day. Instead, let’s pause to praise the STM for one area in which it is indisputably outperforming many of its city counterparts: fostering a diverse workforce.