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The STM presents a position paper on the taxi industry
Montréal, December 1, 2010 – Last evening, Monica Ricourt and Marie Turcotte, members of the Société de transport de Montréal Board of Directors, presented a position paper entitled ‘ Montréal’s taxi industry: a key partner in the city’s transportation cocktail and of our Society in Motion initiative,’ as part of the public consultations on the city’s taxi industry held jointly by Montréal City Council’s and the Agglomeration’s respective commissions on the environment, transportation and infrastructure. ‘‘ This partnership with the taxi industry enables the STM to adapt its offer of service according to the specific needs of client groups, and to meet the demand for transportation in areas where urban density is insufficient to support regular bus service. In that sense, the taxi industry is a key player in Montréal’s public transportation,’ declared Marie Turcotte, representative for Transport adapté clients on the STM Board of Directors. In its position paper, the STM states that it awards contracts valued at $25.3 M to the taxi industry each year. Montréal taxis are the STM’s most important partner in the area of delivering services to clients: indeed, paratransit provides 2.6 million trips annually, 83% of them by taxi. In addition, the STM has contracts for ten shared taxi services, representing a total of $284 000 each year. Finally, taxis can also use the 83 km of reserved public transit lanes, enabling them to improve their efficiency as they drive around the city. ‘‘ The interests of both public transit and the taxi industry in Montréal are closely related, and each one’s services complement the other’s, rather than competing with it. We want to maintain our cooperation with the taxi industry. In fact, we invite them to further enhance our existing partnership and even develop new opportunities for making taxis a key player in the transportation mix,’’ added Ms. Ricourt, a member of the STM Board of Directors and borough councillor for the Ovide-Clermont district in Montréal-North. Paratransit service is expected to grow by more than 6.3% each year until 2020, and will thus require additional resources. As a public transit mode, taxis have proven themselves in terms of performance and the STM wants its partnership to grow, while continuing to uphold its goal of improving both the quality and level of service. For the regular bus network, the important role played by shared taxi services will expand, as the STM wants to diversify its offer of service to meet the demand for new local transit service in low-density sectors. Also, by 2020, more than 350 km of reserved lanes will have been created in the STM’s operating area, making it possible for taxis using them to avoid traffic congestion. Aiming to enhance its partnership with the taxi industry, the STM proposes the development of joint advertising campaigns and fare promotions. The STM would also like to improve the way it informs taxi companies when métro service is disrupted so that they can dispatch more vehicles in the affected area. The corporation also wants to improve coordination between its transit networks and the taxi industry in terms of planning and promotion. As the public transit authority on the Island of Montréal, it would be both logical and advantageous for the STM to take on this new role. This would lead to improving the coordination of services, while respecting the complementary missions of the STM, the taxi office and industry, to reinforcing their complementary nature and to helping the taxi industry increase its revenues. ‘‘ In the last few years, the STM and the taxi industry have found innovative ways of improving transportation services, while joining forces to compete with single occupant car use. Opportunities for developing a stronger and more strategic alliance are still numerous, one that would convince more people that public transit is a fast and reliable way of being mobile. Public transit is On the move !,’ concluded Ms. Ricourt. Finally, the STM received the Outstanding Public Transportation System in North America award from the American Public Transportation Association, for the excellent results it achieved from 2007 to 2009 in terms of productivity and efficiency. The position paper on the taxi industry is now available (in original French only) on the STM website at : http://www.stm.info/en-bref/memoire_industrie_montrealaise_du_taxi.pdf – 30 –
