You can test REM for free, here’s when

The general public will be able to discover and test the route between Montreal and Brossard for free on the Réseau Express métropolitain (REM), July 29 and 30, as part of an “open house” operation ahead of REM’s official commissioning, scheduled for July 31.

Consisting of five stations, this first branch of REM will connect Brossard, L’Île-des-Sœurs and Central Station. The Department of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility noted that free entry on July 29-30, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., “will allow users to take and tame REM.”

Several activities will also be presented over the weekend to highlight this first phase of REM startup.

Two more stages are under construction for REM’s deployment at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Deux-Montagnes and Montreal-Trudeau Airport. Ultimately, REM will connect the various strategic hubs of the metropolitan area, namely South Beach, North Beach, West Montreal and the airport.

“By allowing everyone to see the benefits of REM, we hope users will want to adopt it every day. This free weekend is a pledge of our government’s support for public transport,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility Genevieve Guilbeault said Monday.

For Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, the arrival of REM “will revolutionize public transportation in Montreal.”

“No such occasion has occurred since 1967, and it will be a defining moment for the capital and also for the whole of Quebec City.”