Facing a $78 million deficit, the Société de Transport de Montreal (STM) announced Tuesday it is committed to cutting its spending by $18 million by 2023.
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The decision comes weeks after STM ended its 10-minute bus service. Many Montrealers were concerned that other cuts might follow.
At this time, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of STM assures that the reduction of expenses should not affect the service.
“These are different updates to reduce overtime, we’ve rearranged some schedules, we’ve postponed communications campaigns and training programs,” noted Eric Alan Caldwell at a press scrum Tuesday afternoon.
The latter also assured that no layoffs are expected at the Montreal transit agency. A few days ago, STM announced a change in its management team. It now has five executive directorates instead of eight executive directorates.
This $18 million reduction helps reduce the STM’s shortfall to $60 million out of a total budget of $1.7 billion for 2023.
“Our efforts paid off,” Caldwell said. We are continuing our discussions with our partners as we need to figure out the rest of the equation. We are hopeful that we will get there,” he said.
For his part, the opposition leader at City Hall thinks Montrealers are “in the wrong” and believes it will affect service for users.
“What we don’t tell them is that we have already cut and we will continue to do so,” replied Aref Salem. “Reducing the overtime of employees, including bus drivers and mechanics, will inevitably lead to a reduction in the quality and frequency of transport services.
Funding is expected
The STM shortage comes at a time when public transit commuters are struggling to regain popularity in Greater Montreal after the pandemic.
Therefore, funding for public transportation in Montreal is no longer sufficient. Many militant organizations are demanding more money from Quebec to support it.
However, Transport Minister Genevieve Guilbault has yet to commit to specific funding. He has promised to undertake a consultation tour of public transport stakeholders starting in March.
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