The City of Quebec presented the contours of the social pricing of its public transport. As of April 20, the less well-off population of the capital will benefit from a 33% discount on the purchase of a monthly pass or a single pass.
The price of the monthly pass will therefore drop from $91.95 to $61.30 for beneficiaries of this new pricing, called EquiMobility, while that of the single pass will drop from $3.25 to $2.25.
To qualify, a household will need to prove that their total earnings are below the low-income cut-off. A family of four, for example, will need to have an annual gross income of less than $45,000 to take advantage of this discount. For a couple, this threshold amounts to just over $36,500 before taxes. For a single person, their gross income must be below $29,400.
The City estimates that approximately 23,000 citizens will be able to take advantage of the measure. The cost of this promise made by Mayor Bruno Marchand’s party during the last election campaign amounts to $750,000 for 2023.
“That’s what a benevolent city is: it’s a city that leaves no one behind,” said Councilor Maude Mercier Larouche, president of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC).
Facilitate access
The City wanted to make access to EquiMobility as simple as possible: to be entitled to it, a person must prove their eligibility by filling out a form available, for the moment, in the borough offices of La Cité-Limoilou and Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge, but which could soon be available in municipal libraries and certain community organizations.
The user must then enclose a federal or provincial notice of assessment to prove that his income is below the low income threshold. “There is a very quick analysis done at the counter,” says Marc de Koninck, strategic advisor to the general management of the City of Quebec. “If my income meets the scale and I bring the form, automatically, I am eligible. »
Quebec has not forgotten refugees or asylum seekers: the simple presentation of a card confirming this status will also entitle you to social tariffs.
Afterwards, anyone with proof of eligibility can obtain a new EquiMobility OPUS card “on the spot” by going to one of the five RTC service centres. The City will provide two transit passes free of charge to any eligible person to facilitate their travel.
Procedures can also be done by mail, although the “in-person path is much faster”, underlines Mr. de Koninck. “The nuance is that by mail, the person will have to provide us with a photo. It can be taken by phone and you will even be allowed to smile in the photo: this is a significant step forward in a society like ours! »
All people registered with the Capital Paratransit Service (STAC) will become de facto eligible for the new social fare.
“It’s going to make a huge difference,” explains Ghislain Hudon, a future EquiMobility beneficiary who spoke with panache during the announcement, reading his speech written in Braille in front of an audience of journalists. Blind, the man has to deal with an annual budget of $15,000. The $400 saved under social pricing will allow him to treat himself to a few pleasures, such as “a couple of dining outs,” he explains. ” It is [aussi] money freed up to better feed me or to pay for leisure. »
And free?
Some cities in Quebec, such as Montreal, Lévis, Sherbrooke, Gatineau or Saguenay, have adopted several forms of social fares to facilitate travel for the less well-off. Others preferred free — a measure that would have cost the City too much, according to councilor Maude Mercier Larouche. “Free access, of course, is the ultimate measure of accessibility. But it can represent 80 or 100 million dollars annually. If we want to adopt a measure like this, a city cannot take it on alone, without help from other levels of government,” she said.
For the time being, community organizations — shelters for the homeless, for example — will also not be able to buy transit tickets for the benefit of their clientele. “It was part of the reflection that we had with the community partners around the table, but it is not what we want,” explained the counsellor.