“Transport will increase, it means less money to eat”: around sixty people gathered in Montreal on Tuesday to express their dissatisfaction with the price increases announced by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM).
From 1er July, users of public transit systems in Montreal and its suburbs will see the price of their subscriptions and tickets increase by an average of 3%.
At the foot of the Bourse tower, the demonstrators chanted slogans and songs to the attention of the Minister responsible for Social Solidarity and Community Action, Chantal Rouleau, whose offices are 28 floors above.
“People living in poverty will be among the most affected [par les hausses de tarifs des transports en commun] says Julie Corbeil, coordinator of the Regional Table of Voluntary Organizations for Popular Education (TROVEP). Along with members of the Movement for Affordable Public Transportation, the organizations organized the rally and invited the media to defend the right to mobility.
“Increasing the single note by 25 cents is really affecting people with low and very low incomes. This is the ticket that these people use the most since the cost of the monthly pass, $97, is about 13% of the income of a social assistance recipient, ”adds the activist.
Access to health and education
Due to inflation and the drop in ridership linked to the pandemic, the ARTM is suffering a shortfall of more than $500 million.
The individual ARTM ticket is the most expensive in Canada, points out Julie Corbeil. The fare of $3.75 to pay to use the Montreal metro will be nearly 20% higher than that of the Vancouver service, which ranks second, according to a study by the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information.
Increasing the single note by 25 cents is really affecting people with low and very low incomes.
The price of individual titles is considered problematic by the demonstrators met on site. Many low-income people limit or deprive themselves of getting around, due to a lack of budget. The cost of the monthly subscription also gives headaches to the poor.
“A pass at 97 piastres is awful,” laments Brigitte Lessard, present to demonstrate against the increase. She depends on the metro to get to her classes at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Popular Education Center and to her medical appointments.
Differentiated tariff system
If the people gathered in front of the Stock Exchange tower note the progress that has been made to adapt the Montreal tariff system, they believe that low-income people are left out.
Using a megaphone, the TROVEP coordinator happily welcomes the announcement of free admission for seniors as well as the expansion of access to the student rate. “For low-income people, however, nothing! she chants.
The mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, had nevertheless promised a reduction of 40% for people below the low income threshold. The file now falls under the ARTM. Although 63% of Montrealers surveyed by the transit agency said they were “very favorable” to a reduced price for people with low incomes, nothing like this is planned for the moment.
Julie Corbeil reminds us that this is something that is done elsewhere in Canada. In Gatineau, the ÉCHO program, run by the Société de transport de l’Outaouais, offers families below the low-income threshold a discount of more than 30% for individual passes and nearly 40% for the monthly pass.