Quebec does not currently offer any guarantee to the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) which, faced with a budget hole of 78 million, launched a new cry from the heart on Monday to higher governments. The operator fears having to “fatally” make cuts if additional sums of money are not released.
“Right now, we have various funding models for our public transit projects in general. We are thinking about all of this. But what is certain is that the budgets of the transport companies are managed by the cities”, explains to The Press the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault.
The elected official refuses for the moment to say if the STM will be able to count on more government funding, referring instead to the “financial agreements still to be concluded between the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) and certain transport companies”.
“We were still there, with emergency aid of 1.4 billion during the pandemic. And in the La Fontaine tunnel, the mitigation measures are more than 150 million that we finance. So we still put a lot of money, the cities have certain amounts, ”continued Mr.me Guilbault, recognizing however that “discussions” must still take place with the municipalities.
At Quebec solidaire, the spokesperson for transport, Etienne Grandmont, however, claims much more. His party will ask Finance Minister Eric Girard on Tuesday to include “emergency funding” for the STM in his economic update, which will take place next Thursday.
It is absolutely necessary that the government, in the urgency of the situation, absorb this deficit. We cannot, in times of climate crisis, afford a reduction in the service offer.
Etienne Grandmont, transport spokesperson at QS
“What’s happening is a very slippery slope. Reducing service means reducing traffic, ”he persists, calling on Quebec to “clarify” its financing systems as quickly as possible.
The story is similar among the Liberals, where MNA Frédéric Beauchemin is also asking for a “major investment in order to reduce the deficits of transport companies and thus ensure the maintenance of public transport services throughout Montreal, but also elsewhere in the country. Quebec”.
Changing Perceptions
In a municipal commission on Monday, the chairman of the STM board of directors, Éric Alan Caldwell, once again implored Quebec and Ottawa to get more involved. “We really have to work on financing the operation of public transport. It’s a burden we all share. There will have to be solutions. The current system is not viable in the short, medium and long term,” he said.
“We need more money. The higher governments must be there. Without that, inevitably, we will no longer be able to afford this service offer, ”also clearly mentioned Mr. Caldwell.
We still have to fight to get all our funding, because there is always this perception that it is an additional service. […] If we compare ourselves to conventional mobility, no one thinks that we should let our sidewalks and our roads fall into disrepair.
Éric Alan Caldwell, Chairman of the STM Board
In an “ideal” world, according to Mr. Caldwell, government funding would be “in bursts”, from Quebec City to the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), then from there to the STM. “There is a sequence to review”, he also insisted, calling for a change of mentality.
Already service cuts
At the end of November, the STM had recognized that the marked increase in the shortfall, which is 77.8 million precisely, would lead to service cuts next year. Certain high-frequency bus lines and services to the city center could in particular see their frequency decrease.
In the metro, the fastest service at rush hour will be reduced by about thirty minutes on the orange line, while on the green line, the passage between each train will be lengthened by about fifteen seconds at peak.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Marie-Claude Léonard, Director General of the STM, and Éric Alan Caldwell, Chairman of the STM Board of Directors
The company’s general manager, Marie-Claude Léonard, bluntly states that “the STM will have to evolve” to cope with its two roles: those of operator and project supplier.
On Monday, the company also confirmed the launch of the call for tenders to dig the 6.4 km tunnel for the future extension of the blue line, as revealed The Press last week.
“We may have to make courageous decisions when necessary,” slipped the DG. She expects that 75 to 80% of pre-pandemic ridership will be back by 2023, in the metro and Montreal buses. Currently, this figure is around 69% during the week, but rises to 79% during the weekend.
Soon, “we will have to stop talking about pre-pandemic traffic, but about new traffic”, mentioned Monday Mme Leonardo. “Returning to 100% does not mean the same customers in the same time slots”, she concluded, referring to possible “bonuses to be made outside peak times”.