On July 1st, another (another!) increase in the ARTM goes into effect. Zone A ticket costs from $3.50 to $3.75. This surge, along with all others, will harm many people. For people on low incomes, public transport is often the only means of transportation. However, due to the constantly increasing costs, this option does not exist for many people.
Currently, the cost of a monthly pass to use public transport is more than 10% of a welfare recipient’s income. With the announced increase, things will only get worse.
At ACEF du Nord de Montréal we offer nothing less than free public transport. How not to consider this measure, knowing that it enables both the fight against social exclusion and climate change?
A fundamental right
Mobility is a basic need that enables a number of other rights to be realized (right to housing, to work, to education, to food, to health, etc.). Mobility should therefore be understood in a public service logic in the same way as health or education. These services are available to the public regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. Unfortunately, this is not the case with public transport.
While a single person on welfare gets $770 a month, many workers are also pulling the devil’s tail. With rent costs skyrocketing, utility bills soaring, not to mention groceries, how much money do you think is left for transportation? To ask the question is to answer it.
Surroundings
Free public transport is also a solution to meet our urgent goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This measure also makes it possible to create denser and safer cities that are geared towards the people who live there and not the cars that travel there.
Because yes, we believe that freedom would be an important incentive to give up the car, even if the range of services is also a decisive factor in this choice. In Montreal, 40% of greenhouse gases come from road traffic. It is estimated that climate change alone will cost communities $5.3 billion a year. A decline in the number of cars in the city has several advantages.
A political decision
Nothing comes for free, you will say. Quebec must fund this measure to replace the part paid by users. However, with this clever cost-benefit calculation, savings must also be taken into account (road maintenance, congestion, pollution, health, etc.). Additional revenues must also be taken into account (attractiveness of the cities for companies and tourists, densification of the districts and revitalization of the city center and its shops). Political decisions are also possible.
In Ontario, 71% of confirmed transport investment for 2022-2032 is for public transport and 29% for roads, while in Quebec there is an inverse ratio of 30% for public transport and 70% for roads. If Quebec can invest billions in building a new tunnel, it can also invest in free public transport if it chooses to.
Valérie Plante recently proudly presented the achievement of free entry for seniors. She casually mentioned the concept of territorial justice regardless of income. This justice must apply to everyone, not just seniors. From an ecological point of view, free access also has an impact on intergenerational equity. Ms Plante mentions that public transport should no longer be seen as an expense but rather as an investment in the future. We wholeheartedly agree with her and hope she will help us bring that vision to Quebec.
Free local public transport is not a utopia. It is present in more than 120 cities around the world. What is the city of Montreal waiting for to join the movement?
Isabelle Mailloux-Beique And Dominique Gagnon, ACEF Budget Advisor for North Montreal
