STM unveils 2025 budget at $1.8B, increases security allocation

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) released its 2025 budget Thursday, totalling $1.8 billion and 0.2 per cent over the previous year.

"Last year, we committed to reducing our expenses by $100 million over five years, and we have already achieved $36 million of these savings," the STM noted. "We will firmly pursue this commitment in the coming year with a further $16 million while maintaining our level of service."

The STM says it needs more than half a billion dollars each year to maintain the system and allow for other improvements, including adding elevators to increase accessibility to the Metro stations.

"We are fully meeting our commitment to cap spending growth at three per cent per annum from 2025 onwards for five years," the agency states. "All these contributions also enable us to maintain our level of service. We are ensuring this continuity in a difficult financial context while responding to the imperatives of optimizing expenditure faced by all players in the sector."

The STM notes that one of its main priorities is safety.

"The changing social context requires additional resources for our security teams," it notes. "Security spending is one of the only items to have been increased, reflecting the importance the STM attaches to its customers' and employees' sense of security."

As such, the agency says it is allocating $5.9 million to hire additional security and maintenance personnel.

The STM says its network caters to almost 1.1 million transits each day.