(Quebec) The Legault government will come to the aid of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), which is struggling with a deficit, and wants to avoid cuts in user services.
“We don’t want there to be a reduction in service in Montreal or in any other transportation company in Quebec. We understand that they will have a deficit for the next two years. We will see what we can do with the Minister of Finance and Chantal Rouleau [la ministre responsable de la Métropole] “, Said Minister of Transport François Bonnardel Thursday at a press briefing.
“We will work with them so that there is no reduction in service in Montreal or elsewhere in Quebec,” he said.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Francois Bonnardel
In mid-October, the general manager of the STM, Luc Tremblay, confirmed that without external help, he would have to pull the chopper out because of the drop in ridership caused by the pandemic. “To resolve the budgetary issues that are being asked of us this year, in general, we could talk about service cuts of up to 30% in the metro in 2022,” he told Press.
For 2021-2024, the shortfall of public transport operators in Greater Montreal was estimated between 700 million and 1 billion by the chairman of the board of directors of the ARTM, Pierre Shedleur.
“We have always rushed to the aid of transport companies. An amount of $ 1.4 billion has been given since the start of the pandemic for all the major transportation companies in Quebec. We do not intend there to be any reduction in services, we are able to optimize certain costs and certain expenses, but I do not want us to reduce services, ”added the Minister of Transport.
Quebec tram
In this press briefing, Mr. Bonnardel also acknowledged that the Quebec City tram project is grappling with a cost overrun of 600 million, as reported by the Journal of Quebec. The minister confirmed that a new agreement provides that the government of Quebec must absorb a third of these additional costs.
“I’m not happy to have a $ 600 million raise. I’m not happy. I expect that we will be able to reduce the increase in these costs as much as possible in the coming weeks. We will sit down with the next administration, we will understand how they were able to achieve an explosion in costs today, ”said Mr. Bonnardel.
He has not yet wanted to confirm that additional sums would be injected into the project, but he maintained that he did not want cuts in the project which he considers “extremely important”.
He made a connection with the situation of the project to extend the blue line of the Montreal metro. A committee mandated by the Legault government had recommended a reduction in the project budget of $ 1.2 billion through various measures, including the relocation and reconfiguration of the Anjou terminus. According to his report, that Press obtained, the estimated bill for the project would drop from $ 6.9 billion to $ 5.7 billion.
“There is a more than substantial increase in costs also on the side of the blue line. My colleague has mandated a working group to be able to optimize and reduce costs, which are more than substantial in the past year. […] We are working there to deliver it, ”he said.