Maintaining the discount on the price of a driver’s license is controversial while public transport companies in the Greater Montreal area consider, under various scenarios, reduce their services due to significant deficits.
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For 2024, a driver in Quebec will only have to pay $25.50 for their license, which is $101.55 less than the normal price for Class 5 license holders. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbeault, on Tuesday.
How can such a discount be explained?
The coffers of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) are overflowing, particularly due to the decline in accident numbers – and therefore compensation – since the COVID-19 pandemic led to a decline in travel.
By setting the price of a driver’s license at $25.50, the SAAQ is losing $600 million in revenue as a result of this payment freeze, the government says.
While many drivers welcome the announcement, others see it as a missed opportunity to use these funds to finance public transportation.
“Important announcement from Quebec’s motoring minister,” quipped former local elected official Justine McIntyre in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“600 million dollars surplus… more than half a billion.” And after that we won’t have the money to invest in public transport,” complained Angèle Pineau-Lemieux, spokeswoman for the Access practice transports organization.
$600 million surplus… more than half a billion.
And then we don’t have the money to invest in public transport.
Daunting. https://t.co/oKkTRGQSVz
— Angèle Pineau-Lemieux (@pl_angele) November 14, 2023
“We continue to fail public transport projects because they are too expensive, while at the same time we are happy about the expansion and widening of highways and the money that goes directly to drivers.” And then we ask ourselves why the roads are congested… “said climate scientist Chris McCray.
We continue to fail public transport projects because they are too expensive, while at the same time we are happy about the expansion and widening of highways and money paid directly to drivers. And then we wonder why the streets are clogged… https://t.co/TpFKUamo0w
— Chris McCray (@McCrayWX) November 14, 2023
Is the “Chariot” culture to blame?
According to Florence Junca-Adenot, a professor in the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies at UQAM, car culture has everything to do with the proliferation of announcements about investments in road projects and the perceived reluctance to implement public transport projects.
“That’s because we live in a world full of tanks,” says the woman with a laugh, who is also co-founder of the Alliance to Fund Collective Transport in Quebec.
“Vision [du gouvernement en matière de transports en commun] is good. We subject the projects to a lot of consultation, but when it comes to implementation there is no money left. On the other hand, we continue to build roads. But if we want to be consistent when it comes to environmental protection, we have no choice but to develop other tools than driving alone and to redevelop our cities. And that requires public transport,” she lamented in an interview with 24 Heures about public transport.
- Listen to the interview with Minister Geneviève Guibault on Mario Dumont’s show about QUB radio :
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However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build roads, the expert emphasizes. As urban sprawl continues to increase, car trips are often unavoidable, she admits.
The fact that Quebec, unlike Ontario, is investing more and more in roads than in public transport projects can therefore be at least partially explained by the lack of density in cities, claims Fanny Tremblay-Racicot, associate professor at the National School of Public Administration.
In its 2023 budget, the Ontario government is allocating $70.5 billion over 10 years for public transportation, while the framework for road expansion and repair projects across the province provides $27.9 billion over the same period. dollars is.
In Quebec, the political class seems to forget the phenomenon of induced demand when it decides to invest in road expansion projects, explains Ms. Tremblay-Racicot in an interview with 24 Heures on the subject of public transport.
“If there is a traffic jam, [les gouvernements] tend to increase road capacity. But the more we increase supply, the more demand arises. “This applies to all transport ministries that focus on roads,” she emphasizes.
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