The STM’s special police officers are issuing half as many fines as before the pandemic because they have “almost no time” to check users.
“We no longer have time to conduct title reviews,” said Kevin Grenier, President of the STM-CSN Constables and Peace Officers Fraternity. We do a little, but a lot less.”
In the four years before the pandemic, the STM distributed between 13,000 and 14,000 reports of crimes annually, including around 10,000 for an unpaid right of way, according to the newspaper, thanks to the Access to Information Act.
However, these have fallen since the pandemic. In 2022, only 6,315 fines were issued, including 5,048 for non-payment of a ticket
The STM, which is in serious financial trouble, is deprived of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
While fines brought in more than $500,000 in 2018, they only managed to collect $272,000 in 2022. Remember that the shortfall for the carrier is $60 million.
Don’t pay more
Of course, this drop can be partially explained by less traffic than before the pandemic. By the end of 2022, the network had regained nearly 70% of its pre-pandemic traffic
However, these figures also mean that special police officers have “almost no time” for checks, argues Mr. Grenier.
Indeed, the time of these peace officers is being monopolized by an explosion in the number of 911 calls, which has risen from “26,000 to 40,000” annually since the health crisis.
“We have about 9,000 emergency calls for social-communal help,” says Mr. Grenier. That means we spend a lot of time helping vulnerable people, among other things,” he adds, citing the example of people affected by homelessness.
The lack of deterrence among users tempted not to pay for their ticket or subscription is therefore felt.
“Station attendants and bus drivers alike tell us that fraud has increased sharply since the pandemic.”
The same observation made by Pino Tagliaferri, president of the STM bus drivers’ union, according to which there are between “20% and 25%” of users who board buses illegally.
“Customers are paying less and less. You tell us: I buy my ticket or the STM tolerates the first of the month. You give us many reasons. It’s phenomenal!”
Mr. Tagliaferri is concerned about the magnitude of the phenomenon in a context where the STM cannot afford to lose money. “It is clear that it is harmful on all levels.”
Not enough
According to Mr. Grenier, the STM’s special police officers have also been understaffed for several years. There are currently 162 in the network compared to 187 in 2015.
“In the last 10 years we have had 25 departures that have not been replaced.”
Mr Grenier believes increasing that number to around 200 would ensure “a good presence” of special police officers on the network.
Via email, the STM indicated that special police officers’ intervention priorities have “evolved” since the pandemic as “certain complex social phenomena” are more present on the network.
Although there is no reliable indicator of the phenomenon of unpaid crossings on its network, the STM stated that “nothing indicates” that this scourge has worsened in recent years.
“We have no information or elements that would allow us to identify significant changes in the level of unconfirmed passages, but we are closely following the observations made by our personnel on the ground, as well as the results of our operations,” wrote spokesman Philippe Déry.
STM insults since 2012
- 2012: 14,302
- 2013: 10,030
- 2014: 6,209
- 2015: 11,284
- 2016: 14,026
- 2017: 13,904
- 2018: 13,763
- 2019: 13,657
- 2020: 8,083
- 2021: 10,010
- 2022: 6,315