Faced with “the explosion of population growth and growing financial pressures,” the transportation companies of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are uniting and urging Ottawa to move forward with its investments in public transportation.
“It would be unimaginable for us to eliminate public transportation services or to delay the repair and replacement of our aging transportation infrastructure due to a delay in the allocation of available funds,” insists the Director General. from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), Marie-Claude Léonard.
His group released a joint brief on Tuesday, with TransLink and the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC), at the dawn of the federal budget which must be presented on April 16.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION THE PRESS
Marie-Claude Léonard, general director of the Société de transport de Montréal
We read in particular that the STM estimates the investments necessary over ten years “to preserve and improve” the reliability of the Montreal metro at 16.5 billion. The Montreal carrier’s 2024-2033 capital expenditure program already provides for total expenses of more than 26 billion.
In Toronto, the TTC says it “needs an additional investment of $1.8 to $2.3 billion per year over the next 15 years” in government support in order to modernize its subway network and make its carbon neutral bus fleet. The Toronto organization already plans to spend $47.8 billion by 2038, but of this number, $35.5 billion is not yet funded.
Further west, the Vancouver company TransLink is planning investments of 20 billion over the next ten years, but also a 50% increase in its annual operating costs, which represents around 1.2 billion more.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
In Toronto, the TTC says it “needs an additional investment of $1.8 to $2.3 billion per year over the next 15 years” in government support in order to modernize its subway network and make its fleet more efficient. carbon neutral bus.
A permanent fund
Faced with these immense needs, the three groups are calling for more funding promised in the new Permanent Fund for Public Transportation. The sums must be paid in 2026, but the carriers would like to see it born “at the beginning of 2024”, i.e. now.
The carriers are also calling for doubling the Canada Community Futures Fund (CCBF) and establishing “a sustainable, long-term funding model adapted to public transportation.”
In Montreal, this advance of funds would make it possible to cover part of the $3.9 billion bill required to replace, maintain and store the fleet of MR-73 cars which are reaching the end of their useful life. The new train control systems to be installed on the green, orange and yellow lines will also cost 3 billion in the short term, in addition to asset maintenance needs estimated at 3.2 billion.
PHOTO BAYNE STANLEY, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Vancouver-based TransLink is planning investments of $20 billion over the next ten years, but also a 50% increase in its annual operating costs, which represents about $1.2 billion more.
The acquisition of electric buses also weighs heavily in the balance of the Montreal organization, with estimated costs of 1.7 billion over the next 10 years. So far, the STM has 41 electric buses, but plans to receive 46 in 2025, then 140 per year until 2040.
All this comes at a time when in Quebec, new negotiations must take place between the government and transport companies to find a way forward with a view to establishing a “recurring and predictable” financing framework over five years. .
In the government budget published last Tuesday, the amount planned over 10 years in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI) did not change for public transport, remaining at 13.8 billion, the same level as last year . However, the manner in which this amount will be broken down remains unknown, a vagueness which is causing concern in the public transport industry. Quebec intends to make its detailed commitments known after the performance audits currently being carried out on transport companies.