The STM’s 2005 Budget and Three-year Capital Spending Plan Delayed decisions  

The STM’s 2005 Budget and Three-year Capital Spending Plan
Delayed decisions  

Montreal, 23 November 2004 - The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Claude Dauphin, and the Vice-chairman, Marvin Rotrand, today presented the highlights of the STM’s 2005 Budget. At $831.1 M, the budget shows a 2.4% increase, mainly because of the 2.2% increase in wages ($12 M) and of the 16.2% increase in energy costs, which have added $8 M to overall expenses. In terms of revenues, the budget includes a $5 M increase in the City of Montréal’s contribution, bringing it to a total of $268 M, and foresees an unavoidable increase for certain fares, which will generate an additional $10 M for the STM. Still hopeful that the Québec government will review its financial framework, the STM is counting on a $19.2 M contribution from the province.

Passenger revenue up by an average of 3.3%
Thus, cash fares ($2.50 and $1.25) and the price of a regular CAM hebdo ($18) and Tourist Pass ($8/one day and $16/three days) will remain the same. The reduced CAM hebdo will go up by 25 ¢, to $9.75, as will strips of six tickets, which will cost $11.25 and $5.75. The regular CAM pass will cost  $61 instead of $59, while the reduced CAM pass will sell for $32.50 instead of $31. These new fares will come into effect on January 1, 2005.

Savings reinvested in service improvements
Despite that situation, the STM will forge ahead with its action plan to improve customer satisfaction. Efforts aimed at improving performance have generated savings of some $2.4 M, that will be invested in adjusting the frequency of bus service along heavily-used routes, extending operational hours on certain other routes and adapting new services in fast-growing sectors in the City’s East and West ends. The STM will also begin introducing the transit priority network for Montréal, which will allow for faster bus travel along strategic traffic arteries and cut down travel times for transit users.

As for the métro, the renovations programme will continue and new public address equipment will be installed aboard the MR-63 trains on the 1 – Green line for better sound quality and consistency when announcing station names. Such an improvement will help provide a safer and more user-friendly service, particularly for visually impaired passengers.

Investing in the future
«Since 2003, the STM has been waiting after government decisions regarding the review of its financial framework, which is too narrowly defined and is not supported by adequate and dependable sources of funding. This precarious situation stifles all public transportation development in Montréal. When the budget was tabled in 2004, we were counting on receiving $20.4 M in aid from Québec that unfortunately never materialized. That shortfall was cut in half, in spite of an unexpected increase of $3.9 M in the price of fuel we had to absorb. Indeed, thanks to a full refund of the GST ($4.1 M) and a tight control over expenses ($5.5 M), that amount was reduced to about $10.8 M. We have already increased the price of a CAM pass by 13.5% since 2003 and coped with a resulting decline in ridership of some five million trips (1.4%). Although we have taken upon ourselves to improve our performance, it is obvious that, alone, we cannot meet all our obligations, while ensuring the upkeep of our infrastructure and the reliability of our services », indicated Mr. Dauphin.

Investment forecasts for 2005-2007
The Chairman of the Board also outlined the investment forecasts for the 2005-2007 period. The STM plans on investing $930.5 M to carry out major projects and $90.7 M in its major periodic maintenance programme (PEPM), for a total of $1billion, to be allocated as follows: $361.7 M in 2005, $312.5 M in 2006 and $347 M in 2007. The majority (80.2%) of these sums will be financed through loans. The métro Network will receive $545.6 M, a 53.4% share of these investments, while $275.3 M, or 27% of the total investment, will be allocated to the Bus Network.

Renovating the infrastructure, reviewing policies pertaining to the Bus Network’s maintenance and operations, maintaining the métro’s reliability, as well as upgrading the fare sales and collection equipment, are among some of the projects for which considerable sums will be dedicated, in order to provide customers with a more modern and performance-driven public transit system.

The means to take action
« We feel we have the necessary skill sets to ensure the sustainability of services and to make public transit a collective success. We believe in it and we are willing to take up the challenge. But, without the means or the authority to act… We are confident that the Québec government, and accordance with the positioning it has taken to favour sustainable development, will provide us with a new financial framework, and that the federal Minister of Transport’s plan to transfer part of the gas tax to modernise public transportation infrastructure will be accepted by Québec and implemented as soon as possible. If elected officials in Lyon, Vancouver and, more recently, Ontario could grant themselves the financial leverage needed to adequately fund public transit, we can only hope that Québec officials will follow in their footsteps and make a point of defending and developing public transportation.