STM maintenance workers’ strike: up to 265 buses off the road

A Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) electric bus is shown parked at a garage in Montreal, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Montreal’s transit agency (the STM) expects 265 buses to be off the road for the week of Jan. 11, at the end of the maintenance workers’ strike.

The strike began on Thursday and is set to last a month, with maintenance workers refusing to work overtime.

STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard shared the update on Thursday during a press conference.

The strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 11 and is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 11.

The STM expects that metro service will not be affected, but that bus service will be increasingly impacted as the strike progresses, since preventive maintenance and repairs will not be performed promptly.

As a result, 255 buses will be missing for the week of Jan. 4 and 265 for the week of Jan. 11. And it could take weeks for service to return to normal after the strike, Léonard said.

Adapted transit will not be affected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 11, 2025.