2016 BUDGET: A STRATEGIC SHIFT

Press release

During a press conference held today, the Mayor of Montréal, Denis Coderre, the Chairman of the STM board of directors, Philippe Schnobb, and STM Chief executive officer Luc Tremblay presented the STM’s budget for 2016.

Montréal, November 19, 2015 – During a press conference held today, the Mayor of Montréal, Denis Coderre, the Chairman of the STM board of directors, Philippe Schnobb, and STM Chief executive officer Luc Tremblay presented the STM’s budget for 2016. Set at $1.5 B, the budget marks a new shift in direction that aims to reach a better balance between the customer experience, increased demand for service and the need to ensure sustainable fiscal management. In keeping with this new shift, the STM is giving customers a bit of a breather by keeping fares at their 2015 level for the first six months of the year.   

« This budget is a reflection of the strategic shift taken by the new executive team, in which improving the customer experience is a core priority. From now on, two overriding concerns will guide the STM’s actions:  planning service efficiently and reducing the deficit in asset maintenance. These are two basic conditions for providing quality service, as much for paratransit as for bus service in general », announced Mr.  Schnobb.

« The customer experience, caring for customers and the response to the needs of transit users are clearly the focus of our concern this year. We will concentrate on the quality of service and improving the offer of service. This is what we are doing with this budget. The STM and Montréal join together in their effort to ensure better budget foreseeability in the future. This commitment means a 5.1% increase over last year in Montréal’s basic contribution to the STM », explained Mr. Coderre.

That basic contribution represents $20.7 M for a total of $429.8 M. Furthermore, Montréal is also contributing $17.2 M as part of a program by SOFIL (Société de financement des infrastructures locales du Québec) that will serve to partially finance investment projects, like iBus, the rebuilding of Complexe Crémazie and the purchase of hybrid buses. The total contribution by Montréal for transit operations and investments is therefore $447 M, an increase of $24.7 M for this year.

The STM’s 2016 budget is focusing on projects that will have a positive impact on efficiently planning service and reducing the deficit in asset maintenance, leading to improving the customer experience. For example,

  • Once they are in passenger service, the new AZUR cars will ease overcrowding on the Orange line;
  • Adding 1.3 million car-km to the offer of métro service will improve train frequency on the Orange and Green lines;
  • Deploying iBUS will make it possible to know the arrival times of buses in real time;
  • Adding 45,000 hours of bus service will optimize travel times affected by road work;
  • Adding reserved lanes and bus priority traffic lights along 50 km of roads will ensure greater punctuality;
  • A $3.5 M investment in Transport adapté will help meet growing demand by providing 200,000 additional paratransit rides.

Link to STM 2016 Budget (French only) : http://www.stm.info/sites/default/files/pdf/fr/budget2016.pdf

Link to Budget highlights
http://www.stm.info/sites/default/files/affairespubliques/Communiques/Annexes/a-ap_budget_2016_faits_saillants.pdf

Philipe Schnobb and Luc Tremblay are available for interviews.

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Amélie Régis
Affaires publiques
Société de transport de Montréal
Téléphone : (514) 280-5508
amelie.regis@stm.info