transit

name	transit
description	Access transit data for the Montréal metropolitan area: STM bus and metro schedules, real-time positions, BIXI bike sharing, Exo commuter trains, and regional transit feeds. / Accéder aux données de transport de la région métropolitaine de Montréal : horaires STM bus et métro, positions en temps réel, vélopartage BIXI, trains de banlieue Exo et données de transport régional.
triggers	["bus, metro, subway, transit, STM, BIXI, bike, commute, train, Exo","autobus, métro, transport, vélo, trajet, train, banlieue"]

Transit Data / Données de transport

Overview / Aperçu

Montréal's transit data comes from multiple agencies on separate platforms — not a single portal. This skill covers all of them:

Agency	What	Data Platform	Auth Required?
STM	Bus + Metro	GTFS / GTFS-RT / Developer portal	Free registration for real-time
BIXI	Bike sharing	GBFS (REST/JSON)	None
Exo	Commuter trains + regional buses	GTFS / GTFS-RT	Request form for real-time
STL	Laval buses	GTFS	None
ARTM	Metropolitan coordination	Via member agencies	N/A

Les données de transport de Montréal proviennent de plusieurs agences sur des plateformes séparées.

---

1. STM — Bus & Metro / Autobus et métro

Static Schedules (GTFS)

No auth required. Download the static GTFS feed:

# Download current schedule (ZIP containing stops.txt, routes.txt, trips.txt, etc.)
curl -LO 'https://www.stm.info/sites/default/files/gtfs/gtfs_stm.zip'

GTFS files inside the ZIP:

• agency.txt — STM agency info
• stops.txt — All bus/metro stops with coordinates
• routes.txt — All bus and metro routes
• trips.txt — Individual trip instances
• stop_times.txt — Arrival/departure times at each stop
• calendar.txt / calendar_dates.txt — Service dates
• shapes.txt — Route geometries
• feed_info.txt — Feed validity dates

Schedule change dates (2025-2026): Jan 5, Mar 23, Jun 15, Aug 24, Oct 26. Current feed valid until ~Mar 22, 2026.

Also on CKAN (donnees.montreal.ca):

• Bus lines and stops as Shapefiles (MTM NAD83 Zone 8)

Real-Time Feeds (GTFS-Realtime)

Requires free registration at the STM developer portal.

Developer portal: https://portail.developpeurs.stm.info Contact: [e-mail] Forum: Open data forum available for developer questions

Once registered, you get an API key for:

Feed	Content	Format	Update Rate
Vehicle Positions	Live GPS of all active buses	GTFS-RT (Protocol Buffers)	Multiple times/minute
Trip Updates	Predicted arrival times at upcoming stops	GTFS-RT (Protocol Buffers)	Multiple times/minute
Service Alerts	Disruptions, detours, planned changes	GTFS-RT (Protocol Buffers)	As needed
Occupancy (v2)	Passenger load per bus	GTFS-RT v2	Real-time

GTFS-Realtime format: These are Protocol Buffer (protobuf) feeds, not JSON. To consume them:

# Python example using gtfs-realtime-bindings
# pip install gtfs-realtime-bindings requests
from google.transit import gtfs_realtime_pb2
import requests

feed = gtfs_realtime_pb2.FeedMessage()
response = requests.get(
    'https://api.stm.info/pub/od/gtfs-rt/ic/v2/vehiclePositions',
    headers={'apiKey': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
feed.ParseFromString(response.content)

for entity in feed.entity:
    vehicle = entity.vehicle
    print(f"Route {vehicle.trip.route_id}: "
          f"lat={vehicle.position.latitude}, "
          f"lon={vehicle.position.longitude}")

Answering "When is the next bus?":

1. Find the stop_id from stops.txt (or CKAN dataset) nearest to the user's location
2. Query the Trip Updates feed for predictions at that stop
3. Fall back to the static schedule if real-time feed is unavailable

Metro

Metro has 4 lines and 68 stations:

• Green (Verte): Angrignon ↔ Honoré-Beaugrand
• Orange: Côte-Vertu ↔ Montmorency
• Blue (Bleue): Snowdon ↔ Saint-Michel
• Yellow (Jaune): Berri-UQAM ↔ Longueuil

Metro schedules are included in the GTFS static feed. Real-time metro arrival predictions are available through the GTFS-RT Trip Updates feed.

---

2. BIXI — Bike Sharing / Vélopartage

Station Data (GBFS — fully public)

No auth required. BIXI uses the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS).

Entry point: https://gbfs.velobixi.com/gbfs/gbfs.json

Feed	URL	Content	Update Rate
System info	/gbfs/en/system_information.json	System name, operator, URL	Static
Station info	/gbfs/en/station_information.json	Station ID, name, lat/lon, capacity	Rarely changes
Station status	/gbfs/en/station_status.json	Available bikes, available docks, per station	~Every minute

Example: Find available bikes near a location:

import requests, math

# Get all station info and status
stations = requests.get('https://gbfs.velobixi.com/gbfs/en/station_information.json').json()
status = requests.get('https://gbfs.velobixi.com/gbfs/en/station_status.json').json()

# Build status lookup
status_map = {s['station_id']: s for s in status['data']['stations']}

# User's location (example: Place des Arts)
user_lat, user_lon = 45.5081, -73.5664

# Find 5 nearest stations with bikes
def distance(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):
    return math.sqrt((lat1-lat2)**2 + (lon1-lon2)**2)

results = []
for stn in stations['data']['stations']:
    st = status_map.get(stn['station_id'], {})
    bikes = st.get('num_bikes_available', 0)
    docks = st.get('num_docks_available', 0)
    dist = distance(user_lat, user_lon, stn['lat'], stn['lon'])
    results.append((dist, stn['name'], bikes, docks))

results.sort()
for dist, name, bikes, docks in results[:5]:
    print(f"{name}: {bikes} bikes, {docks} docks available")

Coverage: 8,000+ bikes, 610+ stations across Montréal, Laval, Longueuil, Westmount, Ville de Mont-Royal, Montréal-Est.

Seasonal: BIXI typically operates April–November. Winter data shows stations with 0 availability.

Historical Trip Data (on CKAN)

Dataset: bixi-historique-des-deplacements Content: Every trip taken — start/end station, start/end time, duration. Format: CSV, updated annually. Use for: Usage patterns, demand analysis, station sizing.

---

3. Exo — Commuter Trains & Regional Buses

Static Schedules

Portal: https://exo.quebec/en/about/open-data

# Download Exo GTFS feed
curl -LO 'https://exo.quebec/xdata/citl/google_transit.zip'

Coverage: 6 commuter train lines (Candiac, Mascouche, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Saint-Jérôme, Vaudreuil-Hudson, Deux-Montagnes/REM) plus regional bus networks in suburbs.

Real-Time (Limited)

Available for: Commuter trains only (not buses) Access: Submit request via form on Exo website Formats: GTFS-Realtime + TCIP

---

4. STL — Société de transport de Laval

Portal: https://stlaval.ca/about-us/public-information/open-data Coverage: Laval (adjacent to Montréal, connected via metro Orange line to Montmorency) Feeds: GTFS static (public download) Real-time: Not publicly available as of March 2026

---

Common Questions / Questions fréquentes

"When is the next bus at my stop?"

1. Identify the stop (by name, stop_id, or nearest to coordinates)
2. If you have a real-time API key → query GTFS-RT Trip Updates
3. If no API key → parse static GTFS stop_times.txt for the current service day

"How do I get from A to B?"

This requires a trip planner, which combines GTFS from multiple agencies. Recommend users use:

• Transit app (transitapp.com) — uses all Montréal agencies
• Google Maps / Apple Maps — integrated GTFS
• Chrono (ARTM's app) — metropolitan scope

Building a trip planner from raw GTFS is complex (requires graph algorithms). The skill covers data access, not routing.

"Is my bus delayed?"

Requires real-time GTFS-RT feed (STM API key needed). Compare scheduled arrival (stop_times.txt) with predicted arrival (Trip Updates feed).

"How busy is BIXI station X?"

Query GBFS station_status.json — fully public, no auth needed. Compare num_bikes_available to the station's total capacity from station_information.json.

"What metro lines are affected by construction?"

Query STM GTFS-RT Service Alerts feed (API key required). Or check donnees.montreal.ca for stm-perturbations dataset if available.

---

Gotchas & Edge Cases / Pièges et cas limites

1. GTFS-Realtime is Protocol Buffers, not JSON. You need gtfs-realtime-bindings or equivalent library. Cannot be consumed with curl alone.

2. STM API key is free but not instant. Registration on the developer portal may take a business day. Plan accordingly.

3. Exo GTFS URLs change. The download URL pattern includes an agency code (citl, citpi, etc.) that may shift. Always start from the Exo portal page.

4. BIXI is seasonal. April–November typically. Winter queries will return 0 bikes everywhere.

5. Stop IDs are agency-specific. STM stop 51234 and Exo stop 51234 are different stops. Always include agency context.

6. Coordinate systems: GTFS uses WGS84 (lat/lon). The CKAN Shapefile of bus stops uses NAD 83 MTM Zone 8. Convert if mixing sources.

7. REM (Réseau express métropolitain): The new automated light metro has been gradually opening. Its data may appear under Exo or a separate feed. Check for updates.

---

Provenance / Provenance

This skill spans multiple data tiers and publishers:

Source	Publisher	Gov Level	License	Contact
STM GTFS static	Société de transport de Montréal	Municipal (para-municipal)	Open license	[e-mail]
STM GTFS-RT	Société de transport de Montréal	Municipal (para-municipal)	Developer terms	[e-mail]
BIXI GBFS	BIXI Montréal (OBNL)	Municipal (delegated)	CC BY 4.0	Via donnees.montreal.ca
BIXI historical	BIXI Montréal	Municipal (delegated)	CC BY 4.0	[e-mail]
Exo GTFS	Exo (regional transit)	Regional (ARTM)	Open license	Via exo.quebec
STL GTFS	Société de transport de Laval	Municipal (Laval)	Open license	Via stlaval.ca

When citing transit data: Always specify which agency provided the data. "The STM reports..." or "According to BIXI station data..." — not "The city says..."

---

Related Skills / Compétences connexes

• discover-datasets — Find transit datasets on CKAN
• borough-context — Map stops to boroughs
• spatial-queries — "Nearest bus stop to my location"
• bilingual-handling — Station names, route names