Montreal transit agency reinstates ‘move along’ rule to boost sense of security

A Montreal Metro maintenance worker walks along a station platform during the early hours of the morning in Montreal, April 11, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL — Montreal’s public transit agency has reintroduced a no-loitering rule in the city’s subway tunnels.

The Société de transport de Montréal says the measure helped decrease assaults on staff and increased users’ sense of security when it was implemented as a pilot project earlier this year.

Transit officials have expressed concern over the number of people struggling with drug addiction and mental illness who use the metro stations as unofficial shelters.

They announced in March they would fence off problematic gathering places and implement a “move along” policy for a six-week period.

The announcement was criticized by advocates who said people who are homeless have nowhere else to go.

But the agency says the measures had positive effects on safety and has reinstated them until April 30, 2026.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025.