Thank you very much, sir. I apologize.
Thank you for allowing CUTA to appear before the committee today.
Let me start by directly addressing what I know many of you are asking: Why is keeping buses and trains running a federal issue? Why am I not appearing before a provincial committee? Very simply, why is this your problem to fix?
It's because in a time of national crisis, we need national leadership, the kind of national leadership that's been on display in Washington and London, where national governments believe public transit is in the national interest. That's the national leadership we need in Ottawa to bring provinces to the table, and I'm hopeful it will come. I know that the government knows how important cities are to this country and how important transit is to our cities, but the pandemic has hit transit hard.
Let me start by explaining where transit systems are today. Some of my colleagues on the panel can also speak to it in more detail.
Service has been reduced in many cities. Layoffs have been widespread. At the height of the lockdown, many systems saw ridership fall by 90%. In many cases, revenue was down 100% in systems that allowed for rear-door boarding to protect drivers and that did not collect fares. Let's not forget that transit isn't just within cities. For large parts of the country, it's how people in smaller towns and cities can get to larger centres. It's through some of our other providers. Private providers saw ridership and revenue plummet by about 95% in the same time.
None of this is news. None of it's surprising. When we lock down, people don't take transit as much, but let's think about the roughly one million people a day who are continuing to take transit. They're doing essential work on which we all depend. They're disproportionately low-income people. They keep our grocery stores running. They clean our hospitals and nursing homes. They are the most likely to take a bus to work.
When transit systems collapse, here's what will happen: After a day on the front line, a nurse may wait longer to see his or her family. The grocery clerk will have to get up earlier to spend a day in harm's way. Vehicles may remain crowded.
These people don't deserve a lesson on jurisdiction. They deserve better than hearing why airlines can be helped, but not them. What they deserve, and what Canadians deserve, is a recognition that allowing cities to fail because their transit system has failed is no plan at all. It's no plan for the essential workers we transport today. It's no plan for our cities as the economy begins to reopen. It's no plan for a long-term recovery in which transit systems will simply not be able to take part because we can't keep running our buses and trains empty forever.
I know the federal government doesn't want this problem, but I believe it can help solve it. It knows how important transit is to our cities. The government wants transit to keep running for those essential workers who depend on it every day, and because it will need to be there tomorrow, as the economy reopens. As has been said so often during the pandemic, the fact is that we're all in this together, the federal government included.
That is why I'm here: to ask for your urgent help, because time is running out.
Thank you.