“There is no fat at the RTC,” according to Mayor Bruno Marchand

The day after his meeting with the specialized firm which produced the audit report on transport companies in Quebec, Bruno Marchand repeated that “there is no fat at the RTC (Réseau de transport de la Capitale) “. However, he did not exclude that the organization would have to make certain changes.

This is what the mayor of Quebec said Tuesday, early in the afternoon, during his traditional impromptu press conference preceding the municipal council.

Last month, the audit by the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT), commissioned by the government of Quebec, ranked the RTC in ninth place, out of ten transport companies, in terms of financial performance. At that time, the mayor expressed the wish to meet the authors of this report. The meeting finally took place on Monday.

“There are elements that we will talk about with the RTC to see what we do with that. I will present them to you, but first I would like to speak with the RTC […] We must look at how we maximize the use of the income we have. This sometimes means changing practices, changing certain routes, adding transport to demand…,” said the mayor.

“A range” of savings

The latter revealed that RCGT communicated to him “a range” of the savings that could be made within the RTC, but he did not want to reveal the details. He has just confirmed that the number of executives at the RTC was mentioned during these discussions.

“The supervision rate is correct. This is the number of executives… But I still have things to validate based on what they gave me,” he added, maintaining that it is not a question of make more room for the private sector in Quebec in terms of public transportation.

The RTC’s 2025 budget will be discussed the day after tomorrow (Thursday), at Quebec City Hall, during a plenary budget committee.

Plan d’optimisation

During the municipal council, the leader of the opposition, Claude Villeneuve, proposed that the RTC adopt an “optimization plan” with the help of external expertise. His notice of proposal was rejected.

Maude Mercier Larouche, president of the RTC, said she was aware that the recent audits had “raised questions” among the population, but she assured that she was already “in action” to put in place several optimization measures.

Tuesday afternoon, Patrick Paquet, unelected leader of Équipe Priorité Québec (EPQ), reacted to Mayor Marchand’s exit by assuring that there is fat to be cut at the RTC, particularly in management positions.