News on the mobility dossier: meeting with STM

On April 1, 2025, the TGFM Mobility Committee and women with lived experience met with Éric Alan Caldwell and Laurence Parent, respectively President and Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), to share our action-research on the experiences of women with disabilities with sustainable mobility options in Montreal.

During this meeting, we raised the many obstacles that complicate travel for workers, mothers, students and activists, both by public and paratransit. We insisted on the importance of responding concretely to the needs of women with disabilities in the services offered by the STM.

These discussions enabled us to identify our feminist priorities on which we would like to see some changes:

• Eliminate harassment on paratransit by improving staff training.
• Improve the complaints system so that it is trustworthy.
• Make it easier to balance work, family and care when using paratransit.
• Revise and publicize the paratransit emergency protocol for domestic violence.

The STM has committed to act on our demands. Together, we will identify the changes that are feasible in the short term, within the STM's current offer.

However, many of the proposed changes are structural and require substantial investment. The funding required remains difficult to obtain, especially with a provincial government that seems to be neglecting the importance of investing in our public transport. Let's not forget that these investments are crucial not only to the fight against climate change, but also for the social participation of people with disabilities.

We hope that the STM will pursue its efforts to obtain the necessary investment to maintain and develop this public service, which serves all Montrealers, including those with disabilities.