MONTREAL - Protesters and politicians are fighting against bus and metro fares they claim are too high.
To change things, they asked the STM to implement a progressive pricing system -- with poor people paying less to board a bus than those with means.
At a demonstration in front of Montreal's City Hall, Vision Montreal leader Louise Harel joined members of the Coalition on Public Transportation Fees to denounce the $3 price tag of a single bus ticket.
The group said that cost is just too much for people living at or below the poverty line. They said that combined with other cost increases in rent, utilities and groceries, the price of a single ticket, which has been frozen since 2011, is too expensive
Spokespeople said that many impoverished people spend less on food each day that the price of two tickets.
STM vice-chair Marvin Rotrand said the transit agency would not be implementing a price for tickets based on personal income. He said setting up such a system would be too expensive.
