Public transit agencies across Quebec say the government needs to provide more funds to offset the projected combined deficit of $2.5 billion over the next five years.
The operators of the transit authorities say higher costs and ridership numbers that remain below pre-pandemic levels make it very difficult for them to maintain a balanced budget.
”It causes concern for us,” Marc Doret, the mayor of Dorval, told Global News.
Doret says many residents rely on local bus service to get around.
”The local bus service is very important for the citizens of Lachine and Dorval to get to their grocery stores, their shopping centres. And any cuts in services will just make it more difficult for people to get to the services that they need,” Doret said.
Doret says the commuter rail service, exo, cut two trains a day on the Vaudreuil-Hudson line earlier this year due to a lack of demand.
And the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) cut its maximum 10-minute wait time guarantee to riders earlier this year.
Quebec’s transport minister, Geneviève Guilbault, says the government is willing to cover 20 per cent of the combined deficits and that that amount is not a final offer.
But that doesn’t impress some critics.
”We are disappointed with the results she came with,” François Pepin, a board member of Trajectoire Québec, told Global News.
Operating costs of transit agencies have risen in recent years due to increases in inflation and ridership numbers haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels for all agencies making it very difficult for some transit operators to balance the books.
Guilbault insists new sources of revenue for transit agencies need to be found but adds that her government has invested record amounts of money in public transit in the last five years.
Transit officials plan to work with the minister and hope to get more funds to pay for the deficits.