Montreal Transit Company (STM) may be forced to reduce bus service next year due to a $77.7 million shortfall.
Transit agency officials have warned that without the additional funding, some buses could run short on some lines.
“We need to find a solution to that funding problem because we don’t want to cut service,” STM President Eric Allen Caldwell said at a press conference.
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The STM relies heavily on subsidies from L’autorité regionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) – the organization that oversees all public transit in Greater Montreal. But STM is still short of $77.7 million for 2023.
“Buses have to keep going, Metro needs a good level of service, so we need to find solutions,” Caldwell said.
Many users are worried about the possibility of any cut in service.
“I don’t understand, they say, ‘use public service, use public service,’ and they’re going to cut it off,” Herbert Till, a visitor to Vancouver using a Montreal STM bus, told Global News.
STM released its 2023 budget estimating spending at $1.7 billion, an 8.2 percent increase over last year.
The agency also estimates that passenger numbers will remain 30 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
Elliot Comptom told Global News, “They say, ‘Take public transportation,’ but then it contradicts that to take out money for it.”
STM officials are still hoping to make up the financial shortfall to maintain the current level of service.
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