Montreal is considering adjusting public transit fares to people's income.
Called a social fare, lower income earners would pay lower fares for public transit.
Not everyone agrees, with the plan, though – namely the 15 mayors of the demerged municipalities on Montreal Island who want to prioritize the quality of existing public transit service in various parts of the island first.
The idea, put forward by Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante during her run for mayor, is to offer a 40 per cent reduction on the monthly transit fare for the STM to low-income residents, as well as making public transit free for seniors and children under 12.
People with annual incomes under $17,700 - about 340,000 people on the island - would qualify for the lower fares.
The Association of Suburban Municipalities, however, argues that there is a greater need for investment in transit infrastructure and improving existing service.
The group added that lower fares for low-income people would primarily benefit people in the city of Montreal.
The association wants suburbs to have the right to opt out, said Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella, who heads the suburban mayors’ association
“We think the priority needs to be to increase service at the ends of the island, both the east end and the west end, to increase service in general, to implement the RTM's strategy of unifying the tariff structure – and then we can start to look at some of these other programs. Not to say that the program's bad, we just think that there are other priorities that need to take place first,” he said.
The association wants a study on who would qualify first and wants to know that Quebec would fund it, as Plante hopes.
The regional transit authority, the ARTM, is currently studying the idea.
