More public transit = less GHG emissions

Press release


 

More public transit = less GHG emissions


Montréal, October 23, 2009
– As part of the parliamentary commission on transport and the environment, Mr. Michel Labrecque, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Société de transport de Montréal, highlighted the major role that the STM is playing and could play in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

“The STM is a responsible company committed to sustainable development. It emits minimal GHGs, only 0.2% of the total in Quebec, while carrying out more than 382 million trips per year,” explained Mr. Labrecque.

The STM has already taken concrete action by signing the UITP’s (International Association of Public Transport) Charter on Sustainable Development, by training bus drivers in ecological driving and by fuelling all its buses with biodiesel (B5). It also joined up with the Société de transport de l’Outaouais to undertake a project aimed at evaluating the performance of the hybrid propulsion method (biodiesel-electric). The results were conclusive, as fuel consumption was reduced by 30% on average in a dense urban environment.

Furthermore, Mr. Labrecque noted that the STM has a service improvement program (PASTEC 2007-2011) in collaboration with the MTQ, the objective of which is to increase ridership by 8% by improving service by 16%. “Exceptional ridership growth of 4.1% in 2008 brought the total number of trips to 382.5 million, a modern day record, as these levels have not been seen since 1949! In its 2010-2019 business plan, the STM sets a target of 420 million trips between now and 2020, thus avoiding 600 000 tonnes of net GHG emissions (the equivalent of the emissions from 120 000 cars).

“On the other hand, if we want to implement a greater transfer modal in favour of public transit, we have to go further than simply improving the service offer. Vigorous action is required in order to influence the demand for transportation significantly. This is what all the studies on the question have shown,” added the chairman.

The Société created a scenario targeting a modal transfer of 5%, which would represent annual ridership of 540 million trips at the end of 2019, or the avoidance of 780 000 tonnes of GHGs (the equivalent of the emissions from 157 000 cars). To finance this plan, the STM suggests acting directly on the cost of automobile use by increasing fuel taxes and licence fees (which have not been indexed since 1996). This measure would enable the STM not only to improve the quality and quantity of the service offer in a major way, but also to gain new clients and reach 120 million additional trips per year by the end of 2019.

To support this ridership growth and reduce GHG emissions, the STM will have to increase its services and its fleet of vehicles, requiring the addition of 280 buses and 153 métro cars. It will also have to implement the initial tramway network, as outlined in the Ville de Montréal’s transportation plan, as well as trolleybuses and priority measures for buses that would take its network of reserved lanes from 98 km to 350 km by 2020.

“There must be investment in public transit, as it’s good for society, good for the economy and good for the environment, the three dimensions of sustainable development. All in all, it’s 100% good for Quebec,” concluded the chairman.

Note that the STM’s 2008 Sustainable Development Report
(Will open in new window)"> STM’s 2008 Sustainable Development Report and the 2008 Activity Report
(Will open in new window)"> 2008 Activity Report are available on the Web site www.stm.info.

 

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