Transport Committee on Nov. 21st, 2011

[Michel Labrecque]

You may tell them that the next three or four years are going to be difficult. We have 1,700 buses. Before we can get new ones, we have to have a transport centre, which will cost between 160 and 175 million dollars to build, because we have to maintain them, repair them, etc.

And so things are going to be tight over the next two or three years. As of 2014, 2015, and 2016, we will have our new transport centres, new buses, and more reserved bus lanes. We will be going from 100 kilometres to close to 350 kilometres, which will help us to save time. With more buses, we will provide service to more people.

As for the subway, the new cars will accommodate more people. Thus, as of 2014, 2015 and 2016, we will be able to redeploy our fleet. We are, most importantly, going to have real-time information, as they have in other cities in Canada.

Don't tell them not to try between now and then. In fact, when the rollout of a public transit system is experiencing a delay, you can't find buses at Dollarama or at Wise's.

You see one year, two years, or three years between the time you have tenders to buy the bus and the time you receive the bus.

That is what I can tell you, in general.

I know that that is not much consolation, but things are going to be tight over the next few years.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Had we had a public transit development strategy like the one that is being proposed, including your recommendations and an indexed fund, do you think it would have been possible to obtain buses for my fellow citizens?

[Michel Labrecque]

I met with the Minister of Transport this morning. The big challenge is to build new transportation centres and purchase buses.

The Canadian program that will be financed by SOFIL represents a breakthrough for us. In fact, it is not very complicated. This system needs money. The clients can provide some of it, but when you have money to build the transport centre and purchase buses, this translates into a number of person-hours. Buses will come by more frequently, and so on. It's not quantum physics.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Adler, for five minutes, please.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Welcome, Mr. Labrecque.

I understand you're a bicycle enthusiast.

[Michel Labrecque]

Yes. I don't have a driver's licence. I never have.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

You have bicycled, I understand, through 20 different countries.

[Michel Labrecque]

Yes, I am a cyclist, and I'm now the chairman of the board of STM, but I've spent my life in public transit and biking.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

I was very interested in reading that about you.

We had Gary Webster here from the TTC. We were talking about his budget on both the revenue and the expense side. On the expense side, he said that his breakdown was 80% going to wages. What is your breakdown?

[Michel Labrecque]

You have that in our presentation on page 3. It is revenue of $1.1 billion. Expenses are the same because we are obliged just to have a budget that is kif-kif, as they say in Morocco. In terms of expenses, 45% is for remuneration of bus drivers and people who do repairs,

the changeurs—I don't even know the term in English—ticket collectors—as well as the

Métro drivers; 24% on goods and services such as diesel, electricity, and product repair; and 11% is debt servicing and financing costs--and that part will increase. When you buy $1.2-billion worth of Métro cars and $1.2-billion worth of equipment--simulators--it means that will have a great impact on our debt and that part of the budget.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

So your wages, as a portion of it, are considerably lower than what is in Toronto. I know you can't give reasons for that--

[Michel Labrecque]

Yes.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

It is what it is. But how does it compare with other jurisdictions like those of New York or Washington or...?

[Michel Labrecque]

I will say that in the Société de transport it's between 55% and 75% for all public.... You need a bus driver in the front of the bus. A metro performs quite well; you have one operator for 1,000 people. You now have metros that are fully automatic, without operators. You see that in Asia.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

In Asia, yes.

[Michel Labrecque]

Anyway, you need people to repair them, to maintain them, and to clean them, and there is no other way to do that, so the average is as low as 55% and as high as 75%.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Fare collection: how does that operate?

[Michel Labrecque]

With fares, between--

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Is it automated or do you have people sitting in booths like they do in Toronto?

[Michel Labrecque]

No, it's completely automated. We have a card with a chip, which is not the case in Toronto. You put in a card with this Moreno chip and there are up to six choices: monthly, daily, and a $4 all-nighter starting at 6 o'clock until 5 o'clock in the morning. You put that in the chip and you adjust it. There's no contact. You get on the bus, pass it through, and you get in.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Really. How long has that been in operation in Montreal?

[Marc Bélanger, Director of Government Affairs, Société de transport de Montréal]

Since 2008.

[Michel Labrecque]

It's performs quite well. It's a good service. Also, there are a lot of new options that we will promote. We have a new pass for students at the Université de Montréal. We have new products that you could add. You could open your hotel room with that card.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

You can load a lot onto that card--

[Michel Labrecque]

Let's say you have a tourist in Montreal. You can combine that with access to his hotel, to a festival or a fair, or to the bus. You put all that in the chip; it's like a credit card with the new chip. It's mainly for public transit, but it has great potential.