The director general of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), Luc Tremblay, announced his departure on Wednesday morning and took the opportunity to denounce the “dysfunctional” management of public transport in the metropolitan region.
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His resignation comes as the transit company faces a $43 million deficit for its 2022 budget, despite numerous cuts. Mr. Tremblay had also launched a heartfelt cry in early January about the structural problems facing the STM, during a presentation to the city’s finance and administration commission.
“The current financing structure, which dates back to the 1990s, is totally disconnected from the new needs for our sector. The ambitions for public transport are simply no longer in line with the available resources”, he reiterated on Wednesday, describing metropolitan governance as “dysfunctional”.
For him, it would be necessary to thoroughly review the way in which public transit is funded. “We do not have the means to match our ambitions to go further in order to develop public transport,” he claimed, revealing that the STM was facing structural deficits long before the pandemic.
He points in particular to the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), which does not meet its objectives and requires too much energy. “We will have to review metropolitan governance. We had a lot of expectations with the ARTM, but unfortunately, we remain unsatisfied,” he denounced.
A long career
In addition to these criticisms, Mr. Tremblay considers that the moment is well chosen to move on to something else.
“After 28 years, and almost eight years as general manager, you have to know how to pass the torch,” he said during a telephone interview with the QMI Agency. “2022 is a year of recovery, and we must also make our strategic plan where we project ourselves for the last 10 years. I thought it was the best time for there to be a new general manager.
He says he is particularly proud of the customer shift initiated under his mandate, and of the increase in the rate of satisfaction with the STM.
Over the next few years, the STM should inaugurate its fast bus service (SRB) Pie-IX, as well as the extension of the blue line.
“When I joined the STM, we were not in a development mandate, we were in a decline. 28 years later, to see that projects of this scale are in development, it’s great,” he enthused.
Employed by the STM since 1994, Mr. Tremblay held several management positions within the STM, before becoming its general manager in 2014. He indicated on Wednesday morning that he did not wish to renew his contract. , which was in its final year. His departure will be effective from April 2.
The STM’s board of directors indicates that it will begin a hiring process to replace him.
“Mr. Tremblay can leave with his head held high with a sense of accomplishment. A tireless worker, he will have led the STM through several major transformations, in addition to guiding it during the pandemic,” said the chairman of the STM board of directors, Éric Alan Caldwell, who also sits on the city council of the city.
The departure of Mr. Tremblay comes shortly after that of the previous president, Philippe Schnobb, who left the STM last September after holding the position for eight years.
Noticeable work
The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, thanked Mr. Tremblay for his good and loyal services. “We will continue to support the STM and work with all levels to ensure efficient, sustainable and safe public transit,” she added.
On the side of the official opposition in Montreal, we say we are not surprised by the departure of Mr. Tremblay, someone “with great caliber”.
“In our opinion, Luc Tremblay has seen the Plante administration get on the wrong wagon for years. He saw it derail the STM by presenting a deficit budget and probably did not want to be associated with such management,” reacted Aref Salem, head of Ensemble Montreal.
good management
“He is still an employee who has worked for the STM for nearly 30 years. The moment of retirement is coming, and it is everyone’s privilege to choose the moment when they want to leave,” put François Pépin, president of Trajectoire Québec, into perspective.
He believes that it is above all the implementation of health measures and its good management of the pandemic that we will remember. For him, his legacy is inseparable from that of Mr. Schnobb, as the tandem has led the STM over the past eight years.
“[M. Tremblay] has always been very vigorous in the management of finances. On the other hand, on the innovation and development side, because of the financial situation, it may have been less ambitious than it already was, ”he said.
He recalls in this regard that the problems of financing public transport date back many years.
“As long as the public transit funding structure is not improved with new sources of revenue to really develop public transit with the new needs that we know, it will be a dead end,” he said. Explain.