Pie-IX

Pie-IX is a station on the Green Line of the Montreal Metro.

It was named in honour of Pie-IX Boulevard, which got its name from Pope Pie-IX.

The station has two entrances: The western entrance is at 2700 Pie-IX and the eastern entrance is at 2705 Pie-IX. The eastern one is very original as its shape is more circular than square, which can make a parallel with the Olympic Stadium to which the station is attached. As soon as you enter, you can still feel the circular shape, from the ceiling with all its lights installed on a circular pattern through the stairs who are outlined by a circular wall. The western entrance has the form of a square, but it leads to the stadium through a corridor with a more curvy shape.

The concourse is one of the bigger in all the network, in order to accommodate the large crowds of Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 1976 Olympics as well as the Montreal Expos. It is all in shades of brown and the floor has circular shapes. Even its bricks are made in circular shapes. There are many turnstiles, again to accommodate large crowds.

There are two side platforms, again in shades of brown. On the wall of the Angrignon platform, you can see the five Olympic rings that were sculpted in bronze. There also used to be logos of the Expos when they were in existence. Some sections of the platforms are covered with bricks, again in a tone of brown. There are also large grills that can be locked, and they are opened when there are events at the stadium so people can go from the metro to the stadium directly.

Apart from the stadium, the points of interest around the station are Saputo Stadium, which is used for soccer, the Montreal Botanical Garden, the Montreal Biodome, the RIO, which manages the Olympic installations, and finally, Collège de Maisonneuve, which has 7000 pre-university students.

UNIQUE FEATURES

There are a few unique features, from the circular shapes in different places to the vast mezzanine.

Also, it is the only station that has extra tracks just before it in order to park trains that can leave quickly when events end. This is a concept similar to the Mets-Willets Point station in New York. As soon as the Expos' game would end, trains could depart the station heading for downtown.

PUBLIC ARTWORK

Jordi Bonet did a large mural in the mezzanine. It is called Citius, Altius, Fortius, and is made in concrete and aluminum. Marcel Raby also did a decorative grill on the wall of the Angrignon platform, around the stairs.

STATION RIDERSHIP (2019)

• Total Entries: 5,221,983
• Weekday Average: 18,850
• Saturday Average: 10,482
• Sunday Average: 8,420

_{The numbers above are the total sum of entries at the station for the year 2019. Transfers between lines and exits from the station are not counted. The weekday and weekend averages are based on the fall 2019 period of Sept 3 to Dec 6, 2019.}