Montréal Guide
Getting Around
The public transport system is one of the city's greatest assets, linking the 65-station Métro to 150 bus routes, all run by the STM (Société de transport de Montréal; 
514/288-6287, 
www.stm.info ). The clean, speedy, reliable and cheap Métro system has four colour-coded lines; the major interconnecting stations are Berri-UQAM (which links the orange, green and yellow lines), Lionel-Groulx (green and orange), and Snowdon and Jean-Talon (blue and orange). Coloured signs indicate the direction of each line by showing the name of the end-station. 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 depart 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 night.
A one-way fare on either Métro or bus is $2.50 (exact change required on buses), and a strip of six tickets costs $11.50. The STM tourist pass allows unlimited travel in a day for $9 (or $17 for three consecutive days); it's available from the information centres, Berri-UQAM and Bonaventure Métro stations and, from April to October, at all downtown Métro stations. For longer stays, the weekly CAM-Hebdo pass is a better deal at $18.50, but note that it is only valid from a Monday through to a Sunday.
It is rarely necessary to take a taxi. They cost $3.15 plus $1.45 per kilometre, and an additional fifteen percent tip is normal. You can pick one up from the ranks outside hotels and transport terminals, by flagging it down in the street, or by ordering by phone: Taxi Diamond ( 514/273-6331) and Taxi Co-op ( 514/725-9885) are two reliable services.