Behind the scenes, strong tensions tore apart the city's public transport players last year, even crippling funding for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) for a month. A situation that has already happened in the past.
Published at 5:02 p.m. Updated at 5:54 p.m
This was revealed by the official opposition on Monday at Montreal City Hall during the testimony of the head of the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM).
The organization withheld transfers to public transit agencies totaling millions of dollars in May 2023 because they were slow to provide certain data. It is the ARTM that collects all the revenue related to the sale of subscriptions and tickets.
“There was a reluctance [paiements aux] “We had to harass four public transport operators for a month and then the problem was solved with political interventions to ensure that we had the data,” explained Benoit Gendron, general director of the ARTM.
This decision triggered the wrath of the STM. “I would like to express my deep concern about the lack of transparency and openness that your organization shows towards us,” wrote Director General Marie-Claude Léonard in a letter delivered by the official opposition at the Hôtel de City about access to information had received. The document is dated May 25th. “The withholding of the provisional amount for the month of May […] is unwarranted and leads to cash flow management challenges and unnecessary financing costs. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The general director of the STM, Marie-Claude Léonard
“Your decision to withhold the interim payment does not respect the cooperation mechanisms to which we have agreed,” the letter continues.
The STM assured that it had provided all necessary information. This was not the opinion of the ARTM. “The example I often give: We know the number of people who travel on the REV [piste cyclable] Saint-Denis, but we didn't know how many people were using the line [de bus] 31 on Rue Saint-Denis,” Mr. Gendron reported.
The head of ARTM assured that relations between his organization and public transport operators have improved significantly.
“There is a clear improvement,” he told the council. “Let us assume that we experienced more turbulent periods in the first years of the new government. But I think that's all behind us. All parties involved must work together to find solutions to financing issues. » “While we argue, it affects other people,” he added.
A problem that dates
According to our sources, conflicts of this type have also occurred on other occasions in recent years, as the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) also lacked certain data to transmit funds to the ARTM, which ultimately redistributes them to transport companies.
For example, a 2022 ministry payment dedicated to a transportation company in the Greater Montreal area has not yet been made because 2021 reporting has not been submitted.
Quebec would also wait for updated ridership data to make a second, more global payment to the ARTM, which impacts asset preservation for 2023. In short, “several carriers” — and not just the STM — continue to transmit valuable information slowly today, said a source familiar with the matter who is not authorized to speak about it publicly.
These new revelations come as Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault will soon carry out performance audits of each of the ten transport companies to provide a “real diagnosis” of their financial management. A tender to identify the external company that will carry out this assessment closed on January 11th. An order will be awarded shortly.