Anti-poverty groups want cheaper transit for poor
Inaccessibility hurts ‘access to resources, public health, ability to search for a job’
Students under 26 years old and seniors over 65 pay lower fares on Montreal transit. Why not the poor?
Anti-poverty groups on Wednesday launched a campaign for cheaper fares for the disadvantaged.
They won support from Vision Montreal Leader Louise Harel, who called for a new fare category for the poor.
But the Société de transport de Montréal quickly said it could not afford to foot the bill for such a program, which it estimates could cost about $33 million annually.
Montreal fares are among North America’s cheapest.
But anti-poverty activist Jean Lalande said “there’s a category of people completely or practically excluded from transit.
“The cost of transit — not compared to Boston or Calgary — but compared to their own total budget, means sometimes they can’t take the bus or métro.”
If someone “has less than $50 after paying for rent and electricity, even if transit is cheaper than Toronto or New York, it doesn’t matter, they can’t take it,” said Lalande, a member of a Point-St-Charles welfare-rights group.
This inaccessibility “has many consequences, in terms of social isolation, access to resources, public health and ability to search for a job.”
On Wednesday, a coalition of 20 groups rallied outside Montreal city hall. The aim, Lalande said, was to spark a discussion about the issue.
Some other cities already offer cheaper transit to those in need.
In Calgary, some low-in- come earners are eligible for a $44 monthly transit pass, ($50 less than regular fare). That city recently increased the income threshold, doubling the number of people eligible for the subsidy.
In Paris, the underprivileged are offered free fares or discounts of up to 75 per cent.
In an interview, Harel said transit fares are a problem for many Montrealers.
“Even to go to the doctor, or the hospital, often people don’t have the means to get there,” she said. “Sometimes they have to skip appointments, sometimes they have to walk a lot.”
Lower fares could be introduced in stages, she said, perhaps starting with discounts only for those on welfare.
Quebec could help fund the program since it’s not in the province’s interest for “welfare recipients to be isolated or unable to look for jobs.”
Montreal’s transit authority is “sympathetic to those who have a difficult time paying fares but we see this as a societal problem,” said Marvin Rotrand, the STM’s vicechair.
“Solutions belong to upper levels of government, not the STM or the city.”
The Montreal agglomeration will contribute $410 million to the STM this year.
Even with that subsidy, the STM’s 2013 budget has a $20-million hole in it, money that will “somehow have to be received from other sources,” Rotrand said.
Montreal fares are low compared to other cities because transit is “heavily subsidized — only 46 per cent of the cost of services are actually paid by the riders,” he said. Montreal’s full-fare monthly pass ($77) is less than Toronto’s discounted student/senior pass ($106).
“Those are historic fares that have existed for generations within our structure and there’s a cost to doing this,” Rotrand said.
“It’s a question of how much can you afford.”