Interesting update lordsutch. The European credit cards we tried last year were EMV-enabled and still got rejected. Perhaps the STM has finally fixed this?

I don't think the vending machines actually sell OPUS cards. You will have to buy it at one of the ticket booths. Once you have the physical card, however, you can then recharge it at the machines.

I hear you can reserve a cab in advance in Montreal. You could try that instead of being "gouged" by the STM.

The 747 bus is a very good deal at 10$ regardless of the price increase, especially if you are staying in the downtown area. It will be slower once you enter the downtown core with the stops but a cab ride from the airport will take almost the exact same route to get to downtown but cost you close to 40$.

We bought a 3-day metro pass from the machine in the international arrivals area for $18 each. We were able to use it for the 747 bus and 3 days of metro usage. We didn't use the metro as much as I originally thought, since so many of the places we visited were in easy walking distance.

I thought the 747 bus was fine and it had a stop one block from our hotel. We thought about getting a taxi from the airport for the 3 of us, but then figured we would get 3 days of metro usage as a bonus for about the same cost.

To update on my own question, I had another European friend visiting this week and he was able to use his European EMV-enabled Mastercard to buy a ticket from the STM machine.

So it seems that international cards are now accepted. ^

I used my US (non-chipped) credit card and it worked too.

I took it last week and it really was very easy to miss your stop. I located myself only a stop before mine, having caught Sheraton in the corner of my eyes. I don't understand why they can't at least show the number of the next stop inside the bus.

recent experiences on 747
 

Unfortunately, this bus has now become the victim of its own success.

It is so popular that on Sept 1 at 8 pm, there were 150 passengers waiting in line to board. The driver created a scene when he announced he only had room for passengers w/o luggage! Practically, that meant airport staff boarded while FTs waited.

Going to the airport, it is also crowded. I took the bus from Jeanne Mance and there were no seats nor any room on the luggage rack. It took one hour in construction and that is a long time to stand.

Any chance the city will add more buses?

Late August and early September is always a busy time for the 747 due to that period being the busiest time at YUL. For example, this past Tuesday was the busiest day of the year in terms of passenger arrivals and departures.

There is good news however! The STM (note that the City of Montréal doesn't have a say in transit operations) just added about a dozen inter-city type busses to supplement the fleet of urban 747 busses. These new units seat about 40 passengers and carry the luggage in holds under the floor. They're slowly coming on line as a driver group is trained on the new equipment. This should alleviate some of the issues at peak periods. The busses are even equipped with Wifi and restrooms.

As for the construction... Well that's just part of life in Montréal. She be a cruel mistress at times ;)

Last week I waited for 50min at a downtown bus stop for a 747 to take me to the airport. Two scheduled departures were simply no-shows, and the automated phone line kept saying that the next departure from my stop was in 1 minute.

There were no road closures or accidents on that stretch, traffic flowed normally.

I eventually had to hail a cab to make my flight. :mad:

new 747 buses and STM governance
 

The "good" news is that STM leased 15 inter-city coaches - more comfortable than the regular STM buses (which are still in use)- c/w luggage holds. The "bad" news is that the new buses are slower (i.e. the driver has to get off the bus @ each stop to retrieve passengers' luggage from the hold) and 2 of them broke down over Labour Day weekend.

As for STM governance, 7 of the 10 board members are councillors - and - most of the budget comes from the province/city:
http://www.stm.info/en/about/corpora.../board-members
i.e. you will have a hard time convincing this transit user that Ville de Montreal does not have a say in transit operations! (that is like saying Toronto does not have any say in the operations of the TTC i.e. if you believe that, I am some swamp land in FL you can buy...........

BTW, I was overcharged on the STM & contacted Ville de Montreal (its on the Mayor's WEB site!) a couple of weeks ago...............seems like they are operating on the same response times as Air Canada? i.e. still have not heard back!

Has it occured to you to contact the STM? :rolleyes:

I have filled in their contact form regarding the 2 no-show 747 buses (see above) and received a reply within a week, complete with a form to submit my expense claim for the taxi.

The intercity coaches suck. The one I was on had no WiFi; not sure if any have WiFi. Passenger needs to fish their bags out after getting off adding extra time. Windows don't open for ventilation. Also nothing to request stop.

When I get the bus from downtown to the airport for a flight I always give me day travel card to someone at the machine buying a ticket so they can get a free ride

I'm impressed with the 747 bus. On my last trip to YUL about a month ago, it was 0 degrees F when I landed. There was one bus waiting at the curb and loading when I walked outside, and another right behind it. The driver made announcements in both French and English, and we made good time getting from the airport to Lionel-Groulx thanks to the new HOV lane on the autoroute and then taking some side streets for the last few minutes of the journey.

The 747 is decent. It's convenient for me since I work near Lionel-Groulx and I'm a monthly Opus card holder, so it's free to use.

However, it was never intended as anything more than a stopgap measure until the (near-mythical) express train was built. It's not a transit option worthy of a major international hub. And it's representative of how Montreal has trouble getting anything built without running into decades of delays, squabbling, cost overruns, and mafia involvement.

Post-747 better than pre-747. But still not good enough. We need a proper rail link.