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Montreal’s popular, overburdened métro system has been a victim of its success for nearly a decade. In the coming days, Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration is promising to offer solutions for the “sardine class,” as her party has dubbed cramped commuters.

Among the possible remedies projected are express bus lanes on major north-south routes to alleviate pressure on the métro Orange Line, including a possible rapid-bus transit route on Papineau Ave., Montreal’s longest north-south artery. Some experts express doubts, however, as to whether trying to shift commuters from the crowded but speedy métro system to Montreal’s congested and slow-moving streets will work.

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For the first time in its history, more than a million people a day passed through Montreal’s turnstiles on a number of days in 2018. Overall, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) counted 217 million entries into the métro system last year, and ridership continues to grow — in 2018, it was up by 4 per cent.