Montreal Travel Guide (Montreal, Quebec)

The public transport system is one of the city's greatest assets, linking the 65-station Métro to 150 bus routes. The clean, speedy, convenient, reliable and cheap Métro system has four colour-coded lines, the major interconnecting stations being Berri-UQAM (which links the orange, green and yellow lines), Lionel-Groulx (green and orange), Snowdon and Jean-Talon (blue and orange). Coloured signs indicate the direction of each line by showing the name of the terminus; maps of the system can be picked up at stations and information centres.

A correspondance , available from machines beyond the turnstiles at the Métro stations, allows you to complete your journey by bus at no extra cost, but you must get one at the beginning of your journey, not as you get off the Métro. The transfer system also works in reverse, from buses to Métro - ask the driver for one as you board. Most buses stop running at 12.30am, shortly before the Métro, though some run all through the night and cover different routes; they have the same fare system as the Métro, but exact change is required.

One-way fares are a flat $2, and a book of six tickets - a carnet - costs $8.25. Better suited to visitors, the STCUM tourist pass allows unlimited travel on the Métro and bus routes: it costs $7 a day or $14 for three consecutive days and is available from the information centres, Berri-UQAM Métro station and, from April to October, at all downtown Métro stations.

It is rarely necessary to take a taxi , and they're not that expensive if you're in a group; they cost $2.80 plus $1.13 per kilometre and an additional ten to fifteen percent tip is normal. Taxis can be boarded at ranks outside hotels and transport terminals, and by simply flagging them down. They can also be ordered by phone: Taxi Diamond (tel 273-6331) and Taxi Co-op (tel 725-9885) are two reliable services.