(Montreal) Around a hundred protesters gathered on Sunday to denounce the underfunding of public transport in Quebec, which could lead to a reduction in services.
Published at 11:39 am. Updated at 11:50 a.m
“Everyone knows that there is a crisis in the transport companies. But when we see that such catastrophic scenarios are being considered, we must act,” Mathieu Murphy-Perron, founding member of the activist collective Vélorution, which organized the demonstration, told La Presse.
In late October, several mayors of the Greater Montreal area expressed concern that the public transportation sector would suffer heavy losses without increased government support. According to their assumptions, the subway should close after 11 p.m. every day and only open from 9 a.m. on weekends. This would also result in a reduction in the number of trains available on the yellow, green and orange lines.
“For a relieved and safe city, we need public transport. Such measures would lead to many more people traveling alone by car, and that would be a catastrophe,” says Mathieu Murphy-Perron.
“It’s completely absurd”
Protesters gathered at the Square-Victoria-OACI subway station at 11 a.m. “Considering everything we know about climate change and the environmental impact of human habits, it is completely absurd to want to restrict public transport,” shouted Magalie Simard, one of the demonstrators. “We need to increase funding for public transport instead,” added Simon Paquette and Kathleen Gudmundssol alongside him.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Protesters are calling for more funding for public transport, as cuts are seen as compensation for financial losses.
“It is completely irresponsible what Mr. Legault and the finance minister have done,” declared solidarity MP Manon Massé, who was present at the event. She regrets that the CAQ government has not funded transport companies to meet their needs. “That may mean service cuts and price increases and that is unacceptable in 2023.”
“We have to think about families. “I meet people who say that if the subway does not run regularly, they cannot go to work, go to study or pick up the children from the swimming pool on Sunday,” added Solidarity MP Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
An expected reduction in service
A Radio-Canada report published Thursday cited an internal document that said a 3.7% drop in bus service and a 4.8% drop in subway service was planned to offset the STM’s financial losses.
La Presse was able to confirm that this hypothesis is being studied, but that it is not formally a budgetary orientation. In particular, the aim would be to compensate for the decline in passenger numbers, while in the greater Montreal area barely 75% of users are using public transport again.
This measure, which would be one possibility among several, could make it possible to balance the budget of the STM, which must be presented next week at the same time as that of the administration of Valérie Plante, with a saving of around 18 million.
With Henri Ouellette-Vézina, La Presse