Restoring funding from Quebec’s carbon market revenues could revitalize Greater Montreal’s transit agencies to their pre-pandemic levels, says a commission appointed to help keep public transport afloat.
With a ridership that remains stubbornly low, the city’s transit systems face a combined deficit of C$560 million in 2025, reports CBC News. It’s projected to rise to nearly $700 million by the end of 2028.
The city’s finance and administration commission, made up of 12 Montreal-area elected officials, recently released a plan to sustain bus and subway services in Greater Montreal. A key suggestion: restore the share of provincial carbon market revenue funneled to public transit from 25% to 66%, where it stood before the provincial government slashed it in 2022.
“The spending of revenue generated through carbon pricing has long been mismanaged,” provincial Green Party leader Alex Tyrrell told The Energy Mix, expressing concern over what he sees as a lack of vision from the province. “Public transit should be the number one priority for carbon pricing revenues.”
Tyrell also called for a “much higher” carbon price than the $57 per tonne now in force. He said a $200-per-tonne levy with a $40 annual increase would work out to about $0.46 per litre of gasoline with a $0.09 annual increase, while raising “billions of dollars for transit spending” each year.
“With a vision like that, we could drastically cut the number of cars on the road due to the carbon price and the increased offer of transit services,” he said.
The commission also recommended increasing the 3% share of fuel tax revenues received by the regional transportation authority—a percentage that hasn’t changed since 2010. Additional revenue could be generated by expanding the present tax on public outdoor parking lots.
It also suggested that Quebec delay its plan to make 55% of urban buses electric by 2030 and use the savings to maintain current services, while running marketing campaigns to bring more riders back to transit.
[For a hot take on advertising transit, see here—Ed.]
