To encourage the return to the office of its workforce, the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) has been offering since last week to reimburse the public transport tickets of its staff. The measure, already in vogue in the private sector, is still struggling to find its way into other government corporations.
The news did not make much noise, but it could help replenish the coffers of transport companies left bloodless by two years of pandemic.
Approximately 650 SAAQ workers will be able to take advantage of this offer which, according to the Company’s estimates, will cost approximately $350,000.
“Public transport tickets will actually be reimbursed […] until December 31, 2022,” said SAAQ spokesperson Mario Vaillancourt by email. The measure will apply “only for the days of presence in the office, that is to say two days a week”, he specifies.
“It’s really the kind of measures that we will have to study and spread more, believes Fanny Tremblay-Racicot, professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP). First, to remedy the crisis in operating costs for Quebec transit companies, and then to relieve the ridership crisis they are experiencing. »
Timid breakthrough within the state
Cities have recently decided to offer free access to public transport on their territory. An idea that has its advantages, in particular the elimination of the tariff barrier; on the other hand, it also entails several major disadvantages, in particular that of depriving transport companies of revenue from ticket sales, which represents one-third of budgets, on average, in Quebec.
For meme Tremblay-Racicot, the contribution of private companies and public institutions is a solution that has many advantages and very few disadvantages.
“You have more sustainable funding for the operation of transport and you have an influence on the modal transfer”, she explains. In fact, an incentive like the one put in place by the SAAQ offers an alternative to the all-by-car drive that still characterizes the travel habits of a large number of workers. Often, this workforce travels by car to town centers already served by public transit and where the cost of parking regularly exceeds $100 per month.
The practice of encouraging the use of public transit for personnel transportation is inspired more by the private than the public in Quebec. The duty found that the example of the SAAQ is the exception rather than the rule within the Quebec state.
The Treasury Board is not offering any incentive to the 52,000 regular public servants in the 22 departments and 64 organizations that were under its aegis in 2020-2021. “We are in discussion with the SAAQ regarding their initiative,” said the Council’s public affairs advisor, Marie-Ève Fillion.
Ditto for Loto-Québec and the Société des alcools du Québec, which do not offer any measure in favor of public transport to their 2000 office employees. The National Assembly offers nothing either to its 692 workers. Hydro-Québec encourages the use of public transit, without however reimbursing it, according to a “concern for fairness between employees of cities and regions”, specifies spokesperson Caroline Des Rosiers.
In vogue in private
The public transit incentive has already made its place and proven itself in the private sector. In Quebec City, for example, the financial institution Industrial Alliance began reimbursing 50% of its personnel’s monthly subscriptions to the Réseau de transport de la Capitale ten years ago. In 2018, it expanded its incentive to other cities by awarding a $50 bonus to its workforce in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver who favor public transit to get to the office.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Quebec, for its part, reimburses all the tickets for its dozen workers.
Desjardins, another major employer, is also investing to “encourage its employees to use modes other than the solo car”. The financial cooperative reimburses 20% of the public transit fares of its staff located in the metropolitan areas of Montreal and Quebec. Ditto for the subscription to BIXI and BikeShare, in Toronto.
In Montreal, more than 300 companies participate in the OPUS & Cie program, which encourages them to buy transit passes for their employees. Several ministries and public companies adhere to the program. The majority, however, comes from the private sector.
A matter of fairness
Elsewhere in the world, movements in favor of public transport paid in part by companies and institutions are gaining ground. In the UK, the left-leaning independent think tank Autonomy presented a report in 2021 calling for half of the cost of public transport for the UK workforce to be paid by employers, that the latter be private or public.
His argument is based on the fact that workers are spending longer and longer hours commuting to work. This is time, according to Autonomy, that the employee does not have the freedom to use as he pleases and that he devotes to the benefit of his employer – without, however, receiving remuneration.
Whether gasoline exceeds $2 a liter or bus fare increases by 20% in one year, the burden of travel always falls on the workers without their remuneration increasing in proportion. According to the group set up to think about the future of work, the reimbursement of half of the public transport tickets by the employer would balance this financial burden.
According to Fanny Tremblay-Racicot, this model would be more equitable for society and would ensure the quality of services in the long term.
“At the moment, the deficits of transport companies are reimbursed by taxpayers, therefore by the taxes of Mr. and Mrs. Everyone, concludes the ENAP researcher. If the employers pay a contribution, that respects the user-pays principle and that bails out the loss-making transport companies. If the transport companies manage to have a smaller deficit, everyone’s contribution will be less. »