Open this photo in gallery:

When Montreal’s Métro opened in 1966, just in time for Expo ‘67, the city’s subway system was the envy of North America. Built for $213-million and running on rubber tires, instead of squeaky steel wheels, it was a technological marvel. Its art-filled stations drew new patrons to public transit and, for a time, even made taking the subway chic.

These days, taking the Métro is not any fun at all. The network’s oldest stations are run down and poorly maintained. Several have become unofficial shelters for homeless people. Random acts of violence are increasingly common. As are service interruptions.

The deterioration of Montreal’s Métro system is illustrative of the crisis in public transit occurring across Canada.

Governments claim urban transit is a priority and a critical component in their plans to cut carbon emissions. Politicians keep promising new subway and light-rail transit projects to entice voters. They talk a lot less about the costs of maintaining existing transit services.

Yet, those costs have become unsustainable. Ridership lags far below pre-pandemic levels, depriving urban transit authorities of hundreds of millions of dollars in annual operating revenues. Transit authorities warn that, without more funding, service cuts are inevitable.

Statistics Canada reported this week that ridership on the country’s urban transit networks soared 15.1 per cent in September compared with the same month in 2022, reaching 134.7 million passenger trips. Ridership rose most in Edmonton, up 29.2 per cent. The number of trips increased 6.1 per cent in Toronto and 11.5 per cent in Montreal.

Still, ridership remained at only 82.1 per cent of the pre-pandemic level. What’s more, transit authority operating revenue (excluding government subsidies) was, at $323.6-million, 12.3 per below the September 2019 level. Ridership is unlikely to fully recover any time soon. Remote work has permanently changed the public-transit equation everywhere.

Cities need to make space for transportation alternatives

Quebec’s 10 urban transit authorities, led by the Société de transport de Montréal, last month said they face a $2.5-billion revenue shortfall over the next five years and will be forced to drastically reduce services without more provincial funding. An internal STM document obtained by Radio-Canada outlined a long list of potential cuts that includes closing the Métro at 11 p.m. and reducing the frequency of buses and subways. Service reductions would only create a vicious cycle, however, by leading to a drop in ridership and fare revenues, making even deeper cuts unavoidable.

In spite of the STM’s financial woes, an extension of the Métro’s Blue Line through lower-density east-end Montreal neighbourhoods is still planned for 2029. But the project, if it proceeds, is only likely to exacerbate the STM’s financial problems.

Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault has ordered all 10 transit authorities to re-examine their cost structures, starting with hefty salary increases granted to managers in recent years. She has offered a one-time grant of $265-million, which she says would be enough to absorb 70 per cent of next year’s deficits, but no more money after that.

Instead, Ms. Guilbault says she plans to commission performance audits on the province’s transit authorities. “The reality is that we can’t just endlessly give more money to cover these deficits,” she warned this month. Transit authorities “need to examine themselves, restructure their finances and find ways to save money at the source. My bet is that there are other ways to become more efficient than closing the Métro after 11 p.m.”

What’s in a business name? In Quebec, everything

Compensation accounts for two-thirds or more of the operating costs at Quebec’s transit authorities. In addition to bloated management structures, generous collective agreements have meant that unionized transit workers earn salaries and benefits that far exceed those in comparable provincial public-service or private-sector jobs.

Over all, the salaries of municipal employees in Quebec were 25.7 per cent higher than those of provincial workers in similar jobs in 2022, according to data compiled by the Institut de la Statistique du Québec. Including benefits, the gap was 34.6 per cent.

According to the ISQ, municipal bus and subway operators earn more than any other Quebec workers in jobs that require only a high school diploma. Their average base salary stood at $66,659 in 2022, though most earned significantly more because of overtime bonuses.

The average annual bus-driver salary stands at $106,652, excluding benefits, according to the Montreal Economic Institute. The MEI estimates that aligning the compensation of bus drivers and subway operators with that of non-municipal workers would save $250-million annually, eliminating about half of the annual deficit faced by Quebec’s transit authorities.

It may be unrealistic to expect transit workers to give up wage gains negotiated in good faith, at least not without a major fight. But transit authorities clearly need to exercise more financial rigour and union contracts cannot be off limits.