ATUQ annual conference | Public transport companies have “high expectations”

The public transport community is waiting for decision-makers to take a stand this week as the annual conference of the Association of Urban Transport of Quebec (ATUQ) opens this Wednesday in Lévis. According to its president, the “great expectations” of the industry must be met by quantified, but above all predictable, commitments.

“We don’t want to play in the same film again. We want that to change. Everyone has high expectations and all the hopes are there right now,” explains The Press Marc Denault, who is at the head of the ATUQ, but also of the Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS).

His group is organizing one of the most anticipated public transport meetings of the year this Wednesday and Thursday. Transport companies, contractors and user groups are expected at the conference, which comes at the end of a pandemic which caused a gaping hole in the finances of transport companies. The deficit anticipated by the industry is 900 million by 2027.

The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, is scheduled to make a speech Thursday. According to our information, she will not reveal her long-awaited public transport financing reform, but could give some signs of her intentions.

From the start, M^me Guilbault had warned of his intention to “rationalize” expenses. In the government, it is indicated behind the scenes that negotiations must still take place with the Ministry of Finance to release the available sums. A two-stage scenario, with new emergency aid followed by a five-year plan itself, is envisaged.

Several dates to come

During the days following the conference, on October 16, transport companies will meet Minister Guilbault at her office. Several of them will then participate in the 2023 Forum of the future Sustainable Mobility Policy (PMD) of the Government of Quebec, on October 20. “In less than two weeks, we are talking about three very important meetings,” summarizes Mr. Denault.

In its 2018-2023 version of the PMD, the government set the target annual increase in the level of service across Quebec at 5%. However, this objective was undermined by COVID-19.

To maintain the pace and catch up, the next PMD “should therefore aim for a minimum of 7% increase per year across Quebec, and provide substantial funds to achieve this”, supported around twenty mayors and mayors of Greater Montreal in an open letter last week.

In Sherbrooke, for example, Mr. Denault anticipates “a reduction of around 20%” if government assistance does not change.

“This would happen while we are growing. This is a crucial time for transport companies, which will soon submit their requests to cities. And having to limit ourselves would not be at all consistent with our collective desire to reduce GHG emissions,” persists Mr. Denault.

Figures, but also means

According to him, the solution requires above all a clear plan. “The reality, despite many good intentions, is that the government has not provided itself with the means to achieve its objectives. There, we must work coherently towards the adoption of a policy in which any figure that will be put forward would be supported by means to achieve it, because otherwise, it is unrealistic,” Mr. Denault further advances.

The 400 million aid offered last spring by the Legault government to public transport, in its annual budget, will not be sufficient, warns the manager. The money has not yet been distributed.

“In the West, at BC Transit, provincial transfers are 48.1%, while if we look at the state of the budgets that we put forward for 2024, here, Quebec’s contribution is approximately 20% of certain budgets. We still have a long way to go. I believe in Minister Guilbault’s desire to change things, but the entire government and the Council of Ministers must also believe in it,” notes Marc Denault.