Despite government assistance and reduced spending, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) still has a shortfall of around $23 million, which will, however, be covered by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM). The service could thus be improved on certain bus lines, at a time when ridership is stagnating at 74% of the pre-pandemic level.
” Today, we are really happy to be able to announce a balanced budget, ”said STM director general Marie-Claude Léonard during a press conference on Friday.
At the end of February, while the budget hole was still some $78 million, the STM announced a vast “non-recurring expenditure reduction plan” of approximately $18 million. The shortfall had then been reduced to around 60 million.
Then, in March, the aid of 400 million granted by Quebec allowed the company “to obtain an additional amount of 26.5 million”, to which are added a little more than 10 million in savings made by “various service optimization measures” in recent months, particularly in the metro, where the service has sometimes been readjusted downwards.
The result: “It gives us a residual sum of approximately 23.2 million,” explained Mme Leonardo. “But now, that amount will become a financial risk that will be under the direction of the ARTM. […] In other words, if this risk materializes, it will not be at our expense,” she explained. This agreement is provided for in the Authority’s most recent budget, estimated at $3.03 billion.
More buses
Approximately 75 STM bus lines will therefore have service improvements in the coming months. In general, the network will have a service increase of approximately 3% compared to fall 2022.
On the 18-Beaubien line, for example, we can add between 25 and 30 additional trips, a jump of about 12%. Up to 35 more trips should also be made possible each day on the 24-Sherbrooke line, an increase of 15%.
For the 196-Parc-Industriel-Lachine line, it will be between 20 and 25 more trips, an increase of 20%, and for the 211-Bord-du-Lac line, 5 to 10 trips for an increase of 6%.
Other lines will however have “more modest growth” equivalent to between 1 and 5%, concedes the STM. This is particularly the case for the 470-Express-Pierrefonds line, which will have three more trips during the morning peak in the direction of the Côte-Vertu station. This represents a relatively marginal increase of 2% in daily supply on this line.
Status quo in the metro
For the metro, however, it is the status quo. The “optimized” service offer that was presented in November to save costs will remain. Thus, the service will remain intact on the blue line and the yellow line, but on the orange and green lines, the “readjustments” will continue.
On the first, the fastest service at rush hour is reduced by about thirty minutes, while on the second, the passage between each train is lengthened by about fifteen seconds at peak.
“In the metro, the need was felt more in terms of safety and cleanliness. We are therefore maintaining the metro offer, but the improvement is made by adding nearly 60 resources, ”said the president of the STM, Éric Alan Caldwell. He was referring to the 60 special constables, maintenance workers and “safety ambassadors” who will be hired to improve safety and cleanliness in the metro and on buses, as previously reported by The Press.
Since the beginning of January, numerous violent events have occurred in public transit systems in Canada, including that of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Security has also been greatly tightened. “As much as for the bus, we were beginning to feel the need to relieve overcrowding, as much as for the metro, the post-pandemic situation brings us as a priority the state of our stations”, continued Mr. Caldwell at this time. subject.
As of April 24, ridership in the STM networks was approximately 74% of the pre-pandemic threshold. “We are really in the expected range of 70-80%. This bodes well for the fall of 2023. We expect to be in the high end of this range,” concluded Ms.me Leonardo.