There are several reasons to justify omitting the toll to get on the Montreal metros. First off, let's get those out of the way:

• The so-called "student passes" are not student passes but passes for minors. This means that college & university students who are over 18 are ineligible for the discounted fares and must spend even more of what little money they have on paying for the bus. This reduces many people to veritable poverty.
• The fares bring in a ton of money, much of which lines the pockets of politicians and owners of the system instead of going towards repairing problems & upgrading some of the 30 year old equipment.
• Bus drivers & metro workers are notoriously callous and rude to anyone they feel like. They look down on those taking the bus unjustly.

Well, you came here for information and here it is. The rotary system on the metro toll collectors (the things you swipe your cards or enter tickets into) is on a three-pin axis. Since the rotary can be turned backwards so that people can get out of the metro, you can turn the rotary wheel backwards almost a third of a turn backward without unclenching the pin. So, to put it simply, you can rotate the wheel towards you just less than a third of a turn, slide yourself in, and then return the wheel to its previous position with yourself on the other side of the machine. Once you're on the other side you can also get yourself the transfers that allow you to ride the bus one time for free. In this way, you can not only beat the metro, but you can beat the bus ride assuming you take it after the metro.

Be warned, it's best to do this when there are enough people around so that you look inconspicuous as the fare-guys and the metro security don't take kindly to people not paying. The better thing about this over say, jumping over the collector, is that when you are reasonably handy at doing it, you can walk as though you were going through with a swipe card or ticket and so you become virtually undetectable.

I spent the last weekend in Montreal and had the pleasure of riding the Metro, which was so shaky as to make me feel tired every time I got off it. Those trains made me need to sit down all day long.

But let's put personal opinions aside and hear some facts. The Metro's fare collection system is a bastard child of the New York and Boston systems, as far as I'm concerned. The first time I rode it, not knowing procedure, I bought a ticket from the attendant and waved it past the little slot reader.

The gate opened.

In theory, you have to drop the ticket into the magnetic reader for the gate to open -- that's certainly the idea. I didn't realize that the tickets, which I imagined worked like single use MetroCards, had the same value after use. The second time I rode the Metro, I did the same thing and was chased down in a hail of French curses by the attendant. I couldn't even figure out what I'd done wrong until later that day.

In theory, you need to buy a ticket every time you ride the Metro. In practice, the range of the ticket reader extends about half an inch (sorry, sorry, about a centimeter) past its outer wall. With a little sleight of hand, you can wave the ticket by the slot while actually palming it and get a two-for-one ride.

Of course, you have to use the ticket at one of the little vacuum-gates afterwards, so at best you're getting one free ride per paid ride. Still, not such a bad deal.