The Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) occupies the penultimate place, or ninth out of ten, in terms of the financial performance of the various transport companies in Quebec according to an analysis carried out by an independent firm.
This is what we can read in an audit report from the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT) commissioned by the Quebec government and made public Thursday.
The Capital Transportation Network ranks ninth out of ten in terms of performance in the Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton report.
Photo TAIEB MOALLA
The voluminous 515-page document, however, invites nuance. It says that it is not an audit or review in the accounting sense of the term and warns that “the notion of performance of transport companies may be subject to various interpretations”.
To arrive at its ranking, the RCGT firm used three criteria: the cost per kilometer, the hourly cost and the cost per trip. It turns out that the RTC obtains a score of 21 out of 30. Only the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO) does worse (26 out of 30). The Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS) is at the top of the podium (7 out of 30).
Various rising costs
Regarding the RTC, the report tells us that the kilometer cost increased from $6.14 to $7.80 between 2019 and 2023. Same increase of around 6% for the hourly cost, which jumped from $122 to 155 $. The rise in fuel and parts prices, in a post-pandemic context, explains this situation.
As for the overall remuneration of drivers, there is an overall increase of 2.1%, consistent with the collective agreement. On the other hand, overtime has returned to its pre-pandemic level (11.1%).
In the report, we add that “the evolution of the fleet [du RTC] between 2019 and 2023 shows significant growth in the rate of vehicles stationary for maintenance (19.6% to 27.7%). It is stated that “the increase in management positions within the organization has been more marked than that of other categories of positions”. The electrification of transport is partly responsible for this situation.
No waste
In general, Nicolas Plante, from the RCGT firm, mentioned that “we have not come to any conclusions to say that transport companies are wasting taxpayers’ money […] The audit nevertheless made it possible to identify avenues for optimization to contain the increase in future costs.”
The implementation of eight priority recommendations would make it possible to save $346 million annually and on a recurring basis in all transport companies, we read.
Among them, the transition to an on-demand transport model for certain routes, the outsourcing of a share of services to private suppliers, the reduction of reserve rates or even the clarification of the roles of various actors.
Thursday afternoon, at a press briefing, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, recalled that the deficits of transport companies are estimated at between $2.7 to $2.8 billion by 2028 (including $2.5 billion in the greater Montreal area). The latter says it wants to “find sources of optimization”. In his eyes, it “is not viable” to ask the provincial government to put its hand in its pocket to finance salary increases for transport companies.
Agreeing that realities are different from one transport company to another, Mme Guilbault mentioned that additional use of subcontracting is one of the avenues to examine.
What they said
“The RTC has chosen to serve the entire territory in order to offer an accessible and inclusive transport service, to improve the quality of life of citizens and to reduce road congestion. This choice may impact our performance from a financial point of view, but is essential to improve the fluidity of travel in the city,” Maude Mercier Larouche, president of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC).
“I find it embarrassing for the RTC. The mayor increased the tax on registration, even though we have optimization gains to make at the RTC before that. The mayor worked backwards,” Claude Villeneuve, head of Quebec First.
“We are not cleaning up the RTC, while we are increasing the registration tax at the same time! », Patrick Paquet, head of the Priority Quebec Team.
“It’s all just to look the other way. We need to invest massively in public transportation. Lévis does not have service, but is considered in a better situation than Quebec. That doesn’t make sense. We compare apples to oranges”, Jackie Smith, head of Transition Québec
“Although the report promises millions of dollars in savings, it is in fact only a communication exercise aimed at relieving the government of its responsibilities,” Joël Arseneau, member of the Parti Québécois.
“The audits requested by Minister Geneviève Guilbault from a private firm will in no way improve the public transport offering, quite the contrary. The resulting recommendations also contain clearly anti-union elements. Once again, the private sector is campaigning for the private sector,” press release from the CSN.
