This text is part of the special section Unionism
It’s no secret: the pandemic has proven to be a real obstacle in the wheels of public transportation. And while the various transport companies in Quebec are still trying to recover from this hard blow, in a critical environmental context, they are still waiting for better funding from the government of Quebec, protests the Provincial Council of the Land Transport Sector (CPSTT).
“In my opinion, we are at a crossroads,” says the president of the CPSTT, Simon Mathura. A social decision must be made. Do we want to take our car, even if it is electric, and be stuck in traffic? Or do we want an efficient and frequent public transport service, which we will be able to take without too many complications? »
For users to abandon their cars, the daily service offering of public transport must be better financed, says Mr. Mathura. “The government finances major projects, for example the rapid bus service (SRB) on Pie-IX or the extension of the blue line in Montreal, but it does not finance the day-to-day provision of services. How many buses will pass? At what time ? he laments. And that’s in Trois-Rivières, in Châteauguay… Throughout Quebec. »
“The death spiral”
Obviously, since the pandemic, revenues from transportation tickets have been declining in the province’s various transportation companies, which represents a significant portion of their funding. They therefore see themselves obliged to cut their services.
“We call it the death spiral,” explains the president of the CPSTT. The fewer services you have, the fewer users you have. The fewer users you have, the less money you have. Which means less money to reinvest in public transportation. »
The chairman of the board of directors of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) had also mentioned a “downward spiral” last fall, specifying that it would be increasingly difficult to avoid compress services. The STM began 2023 with a shortfall of $78 million, which it managed to reduce over the course of the year.
A little earlier, last October, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, affirmed that Quebec’s contribution to absorbing the financial hole of the province’s transport companies, estimated at $2.5 billion for the next 5 years, would not exceed 20%.
A choice that Simon Mathura cannot explain. “It’s proven that when we invest in public transport, we invest in the economy,” he says.
Conversely, when the service offering is not fairly funded, this has the effect of reducing travel times, explains Mr. Mathura, who cites the STM as an example, where he has worked for 15 years.
For a journey that should take 50 minutes, for example, respecting speed limits, road safety codes and user comfort, the transport company will plan a time of 47 minutes, which requires fewer drivers in a day, he explains. “This means that the buses are late and that they are full to bursting… This is why we often see the phenomenon of “ bus bunching » (“bus grouping”, in French): three buses arriving at the same time. Everyone is in the first one, and the other two buses in the back are empty. »
The kind of situation that causes a lot of frustration among users and does not encourage them to favor public transportation, obviously.
Investing in “a social choice”
Simon Mathura concretely hopes that public transportation becomes “a societal choice” for the provincial government.
“We are in the process of making the switch from gasoline cars to electric cars, and that’s good… But that doesn’t mean fewer cars on the road or less congestion. One bus means 50 cars are taken off the road. And having taken it in several other cities around the world, when public transport is easy to take, you take it! »
For the president, public transport should not be considered as a means of travel for the less fortunate. “It has to be for everyone. When public transportation is more efficient than a car, people take it! When they see the bus passing in the reserved lane while they are waiting in their car… They will say to themselves: “Maybe I should take it too!” »
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