Pie-IX BRT

The Pie-IX BRT is a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor on Pie-IX Boulevard in Montreal between Saint Catherine Street in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Saint Martin in Laval. After four years of construction, the majority of Pie-IX BRT stations opened in November 2022, with the remaining opening in 2023. It is currently served by the 439 route.

Historically, an express bus service was available on Pie-IX Boulevard between 1990 and 2002 by the Société de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM), until the system was abandoned due to safety concerns following deaths of pedestrians.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) uses reserved bus lanes, priority to buses at intersections, all door boarding and dedicated stations - allowing for higher capacity and reliability than a conventional bus system. In Quebec French, bus rapid transit is known as Service Rapide par Bus (SRB), whereas in other varieties of French, bus rapid transit is known as Bus à haut niveau de service (BHNS), literally 'Bus with a High Level of Service'.

The STCUM 505 R-BUS Pie-IX (Express Pie-IX), running along Boulevard Pie-IX, provided supplementary, limited-stop service to the 139 Pie-IX bus route during rush hours. It operated from 1990 to 2002, being the first reserved-lane bus service and first BRT service in Montreal. The system had 10 dedicated stations, and a regular stop and terminus at the Pie-IX metro station. A unique feature of the original Pie-IX BRT was the use of contraflow lanes with island platforms at dedicated stations, along with other BRT features such as high frequency of service and priority traffic signals. Ridership was relatively high, with STCUM reporting around 5,000 users a day.

However between 1997 and 2002, four pedestrians were fatally struck, as the layout of the bus lane was deemed too confusing and dangerous. After the fourth pedestrian fatality, service was suspended indefinitely in 2002, although a provisional curbside bus lane was set up in the boulevard's right lane. There were plans to restart the service once safety cones and fences are installed along Pie-IX Boulevard, but the relaunch did not occur. The stations were dismantled as of August 2010, to make way for the revised service system.

In 2007, the City of Montreal proposed a renewed bus rapid transit service on Pie-IX Boulevard as part of its transportation plan. The plan calls for BRT service along Pie-IX from Autoroute 440 in Laval to Notre-Dame Street in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, continuing along Notre-Dame and René Lévesque Boulevard to offer an express link to Downtown Montreal. In 2009, the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) regional transportation agency formally proposed the Pie-IX BRT to the provincial government, calling for frequent 24-hour service on bidirectional lanes in the central median between Autoroute 40 and Notre-Dame Street. The renewed BRT proposal called for side platforms at stops, eliminating the much-criticized contraflow design of the original lane.

Although the AMT planned for the Pie-IX BRT to begin operations in 2013, the project only received approval from the provincial government in 2015, with a tentative completion date of 2022. The approved project was less ambitious than the original proposal, calling only for the construction of bidirectional bus lanes and 15 BRT stops between Charleroi Street in Montréal-Nord and Pie-IX station in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

After the project was transferred to the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) in 2017, construction began in November 2018. Work began with the rebuilding of the underground utilities beneath the boulevard. It was also announced that the Pie-IX BRT would be extended after all to Saint-Martin in Laval, as the provincial government agreed to rebuild Pie IX Bridge to carry the bus lanes across the Rivière des Prairies. The total cost of the project was estimated to be $394 million. The southern portion cancelled in 2015 was restored in 2019 when the province announced that the Pie-IX BRT would be extended southward to Notre-Dame Street, with construction to begin in spring 2022 and end in fall 2023.