The number of assaults reported in Montreal’s metro system rose by 15 per cent in 2025 compared to the year prior, according to newly released police data.
Montreal police say there were 726 cases of assault in 2025, up from 631 in 2024 and 652 in 2023. The rise in cases was driven by a spike in reported assaults in January 2025 for reasons that are not totally clear, Cmdr. Angélique Beaudet said in an interview Wednesday.
“I don’t have a very precise explanation for the increase, other than it was really concentrated in January,” Beaudet said, adding that the rest of the year was largely stable.
The number of assaults in 2025 was higher than at any point since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to a major drop in ridership. Police say the data before 2020 was collected in a different way and therefore not comparable to later years.
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.
In June, Montreal’s transit authority — Société de transport de Montréal (STM) — reintroduced a no-loitering rule in the city’s subway tunnels. Officials said at the time the measure had helped decrease assaults on staff and increased users’ sense of security when it was implemented as a pilot project earlier in the year.
However, Beaudet noted there’s not necessarily a link between the influx of marginalized people in the metro system and criminality.
Specific examples of behaviour that constitute an assault include spitting, pushing, punching or kicking, Beaudet said. She noted many of the incidents involve individuals who know each other.
Montreal’s transit authority said in a statement on Wednesday that it is working with police to “maintain a sense of security in our stations.”
Beaudet said that despite the spike in reported assaults, the Montreal metro is safe.
“Unfortunately, there are a few (assaults) throughout the year … but they remain isolated,” Beaudet said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2026.
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