Exo, stylized as exo and officially known as the (, RTM; ), is a public transport system in

Greater Montreal Greater Montreal (, ) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a population of 4,02 ...

, including the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...

, Laval ( Île Jésus), and communities along both the North Shore of the Mille-Îles River and the South Shore of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

. It was created on June 1, 2017, taking over Montreal's commuter rail services from the former as well as bus and

paratransit Paratransit (also community transport in the United Kingdom, or intermediate public transport) is a type of public transport service that supplements fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. P ...

services from the various suburban municipal and intermunicipal transit agencies. Exo operates the second busiest such system in Canada after Toronto's

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

. Exo's territory is concurrent with Montreal Metropolitan Community limits, with the addition of the

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. Establi ...

First Nations reserve and the city of

Saint-Jérôme Saint-Jérôme () ( 2021 population 80,213) is a suburban city located about northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord. It is part of the North Shore sector of Greater Montreal. It is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its reso ...

. It serves a population of approximately 4 million people who make more than 174,000 trips daily in the area radiating from Montreal.

History

A regional transit agency in Greater Montreal was first created by the Quebec government in 1995 with the , with the mandate of developing, coordinating and promoting transit throughout the area; improve and develop the commuter rail network, and; encourage integration of different modes of transit. On December 20, 1996, the AMT took over responsibility of the commuter trains from the Société de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM). On June 1, 2017, the AMT was disbanded in a reorganization of metropolitan transit authorities. A new agency, the (RTM) was created to be responsible for operating commuter rail and suburban transit services. In May 2018, the RTM adopted the Exo brand (stylized ''exo'', all-lowercase), to represent the sub- and exurban nature of its service area.

Partners in transport

Exo's parent agency, the (ARTM), is charged with transportation planning for the

area. Exo operates commuter train service as well as the bus service outside of the three main population centres of Greater Montreal. In these areas service is provided by the on the

, the in Laval, and the for the

urban agglomeration of Longueuil The urban agglomeration of Longueuil was created on January 1, 2006 as a result of the 2000–06 municipal reorganization in Quebec#Calls for de-amalgamation, de-amalgamation process brought upon by the Jean Charest, Charest government. It encomp ...

Commuter rail

Buses

Exo runs multiple bus lines through its subsidiaries serving Montréal suburbs. Exo operates all commuter bus services for the North Shore and South Shore suburbs, excepting the cities of

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...

and Laval, which have their own transit agencies. These bus services are operated mostly through 13 bus terminals, of which most belong to Exo : * Terminus La Prairie * Terminus Châteauguay * Terminus Georges-Gagné * Terminus Montcalm-Candiac * Terminus Repentigny * Terminus Terrebonne * Terminus Sainte-Julie * Terminus Saint-Eustache * Stationnement incitatif Beloeil * Terminus Chambly * Terminus Contrecoeur

Fares

Exo services operate within the

Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM; ) is a transportation authority that plans, finances and integrates public transport in Greater Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The organization was created by the Government of Quebec on Ju ...

(ARTM)'s integrated fare structure for

, which manages its fare schedule and fare zones. In 2022 the ARTM began a multi-year program of updating and simplifying the fare schedule. Through this process, and as the

Réseau express métropolitain The Réseau express métropolitain (REM; ) is a Medium-capacity rail system, light metro rapid transit system in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As of June 2025, it consists of five stations spanning 16 km, connecting Downtown Montreal with th ...

replaced some train and bus services, certain legacy fares were retained and new transitional fares were created, with the objective of slowly raising prices over time to match the simplified fare structure and then ultimately be phased out — a process called (smoothing). As of July 2024, Exo commuter rail and certain bus sectors still have these unique fares.

Ridership

In 2018, Exo carried 174,710 passengers on a typical weekday — 77,210 on the trains and 97,500 by commuter bus, including adapted transport.

References

External links

* {{Public transit systems in Canada Railway companies established in 2017 1859 establishments in Canada East 1996 establishments in Quebec 2017 establishments in Quebec Transit agencies in Quebec