The public transport funding crisis is claiming new victims. Around twenty positions have just been cut at the Société de transport de Laval (STL), which says it is concerned by the “unstable and worrying financial context” surrounding its 2024 budget, for which there is still a shortfall of 2,000 euros. 4 million.
This news was announced to affected employees on June 13. “We are talking about 17 positions, including 8 which were currently occupied mainly by administrative employees, and whose cuts will have a potentially lesser impact on the achievement of our mission,” specifies the spokesperson for the carrier, Anne- Sophie Harois.
She specifies that the financial situation for 2024 “remains problematic, since there still remains a shortfall of 2.4 million to balance the budget for the current year”.
To this amount is added “a sum of 1.1 million which comes from the government’s request addressed to the ARTM to contribute to the effort to optimize expenses”, insists Ms. Harois. In Greater Montreal, this effort to reduce spending totals 13.8 million for 2024.
Last December, the Laval operator had already abolished around forty positions, mainly administrative, in order to allow it not to affect user service. This therefore represents almost 60 positions cut in a few months for the STL, which has approximately 900 employees.
All of this is added to more global optimizations of the company, particularly in terms of communication, professional fees, information technologies or office equipment. Certain development projects have also been “re-prioritized”, it is cautiously indicated, in addition to certain “service adjustments for the summer and fall” depending on demand.
Despite everything, the balance remains precarious to say the least. Even today, “the room for maneuver to optimize up to the anticipated deficit in 2025 is slim, if not non-existent,” says Ms. Harois. This insists on the fact that “without a sustainable, sufficient and longer-term indexed financial framework and new sources to finance our public transport, the coming years” could be difficult.
No financing agreement has yet been reached between the metropolis’s transporters and the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault. She said a few weeks ago that she wanted to resolve the matter “before the summer”, which theoretically begins in four days.
For the moment, the government offer on the table remains at 200 million, or around 70% of the “cyclical” deficit attributable to tariff revenues that melted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with a shortfall of 561 million, transport companies are demanding a minimum of 421 million.
At the end of May, despite opposition from part of its board of directors, the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) voted to increase the vehicle registration tax (TIV) by 150%. This will therefore officially increase from $59 to $150 per car in Greater Montreal from January 2025. All of this will generate revenue of an additional $320 million per year.