A collective of organizations brought together a small crowd of demonstrators at Saint-Louis Square on Wednesday to denounce the underfunding of public transport companies.
“Public transportation is a right, and it’s a way for citizens to exercise their other rights: to go to the doctor, to go to work, to go socialize, even,” said Kathleen Gudmundsson, co-organizer of the demonstration and member of the Movement for Affordable Public Transport (MTPA), on the sidelines of the demonstration which was forming near rue Saint-Denis.
A few days before the increase in fares from the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), the demonstrators also demanded greater accessibility to public transport. “It doesn’t make sense that we always operate according to a user-pay logic,” commented Kathleen Gudmundsson, co-organizer of the demonstration and member of the Movement for Affordable Public Transport (MTPA).
According to the co-organizer, the current rates are simply inaccessible for many. “There are a lot of people in poverty who have difficulty paying these prices,” she adds.
Investing more in public transport is also essential to fight climate change, argued Louis-Frédéric Verrault-Giroux, co-organizer of the event. “It’s the most economical and ecological option, and it’s the best way to improve mobility,” he says.
