747 Montreal-Trudeau/Downtown

The 747 Montreal-Trudeau/Downtown is a shuttle bus service that runs between Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and Gare d'autocars de Montreal, the downtown bus terminal, which is connected to the Montreal Metro at the Berri-UQAM station. There are nine additional stops in the city: Lionel-Groulx Metro station, Guy at René Lévesque Boulevard; along René Lévesque at Drummond, Peel, Mansfield (Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Central Station and Place Ville Marie), Jeanne-Mance and Saint-Laurent; on Berri at Sainte-Catherine and at de Maisonneuve.

747 Montreal-Trudeau/Downtown
Founded29 March 2010[1]
Service typeShuttle bus service
Stops11
DestinationsBus station-Airport
FleetNova Bus LFS
Daily ridership4,000 [2]
Annual ridership1.5 million (estimated based on daily ridership
Fuel typediesel fuel
OperatorSociété de transport de Montréal
Website747 Aéroport P.-E.-Trudeau / Centre-ville shuttle bus

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) 747 Shuttle Bus replaced the Aerobus that was privately operated by Groupe La Québécoise as a direct connection between the former Montreal central bus station and the airport.[3]

Even though the buses are regularly delayed in the highway traffic, the line is generally considered a big success and reached one million passengers a little over a year after opening.[4]

The route is named after the Boeing 747.

Schedule
747 bus terminus at Montreal-Trudeau

The service operates year-round, 24 hours a day, the only STM bus route to do so.[1] When service first started buses ran every 30 minutes during off-peak hours and at 20-minute intervals during the afternoon rush hour, but due to increasing demand buses, in 2010 the frequency of services was increased to every 10–12 minutes from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m, every 30 minutes from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., and every hour from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.[5] Subsequently, afternoon and evening service frequencies have improved further. As at autumn 2013, buses now operate every 5–7 minutes on certain busy moments.[6]

Vehicles
The interior of one of the 16 adapted 747 shuttle buses.

The route is operated using distinctively branded 2010 (29-149 to 29-156), 2011 (31-001 to 31-008) and 2018 (39-001 to 39-015) Nova Bus LFS vehicles equipped with luggage racks. These buses have a modified livery to indicate they operate the 747 service, with a blue chevron logo with an aircraft pictogram in the centre of the chevron near the rear, replacing the standard STM one.

Since 2011 the 16 dedicated buses have been fitted with free Wi-Fi hotspots and buses numbered 31-001 to 31-008 also have air conditioning, the only buses in STM's entire fleet so equipped with such until a new order of hybrid buses in 2016.[4]

Due to the high demand additional conventionally decorated Nova Bus LFS are also used on this route.

See also

References
  1. Anne Sutherland (29 March 2010). "New 747 bus cuts travel time to Trudeau airport". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  2. "The STM reveals historic ridership results". STM. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  3. Steve Faguy (11 March 2010). "STM's 747 Airport Express launches March 29". Fastein (weblog). Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  4. "The one-millionth passenger climbs aboard the 747 express bus!". STM. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  5. "Increased service for the 747 Express Bus". STM. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  6. 747 Bus Planibus time schedule September 2013 Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine.


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