STM cutting 230 jobs in major budget slash

STM to cut 230 jobs The STM is cutting 230 positions in an effort to slash costs without reducing bus and Metro service.

Montreal's transit authority announced Thursday that it's cutting 230 positions in an effort to slash costs without reducing bus and metro service.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) says the layoffs, representing 5 per cent of its payroll, amount to $25 million in savings.

"It's always hard for an organization to make these kinds of decisions," said STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard in a press release. "It's not something we do lightly, but it was necessary to maintain our service offer and continue to be there for our customers, everywhere they need us."

The company also announced a $9 million reduction in goods and services expenditures and a $2 million reduction in its operating budget for certain projects.

In all, the STM is gunning to free up $36 million of its expected $46 million deficit. That's in addition to a reported $50 million already slashed from the STM's 2024 budget, for a total savings of $86 million expected this year.

The news comes amid an "increasingly complex financial context," said Léonard, stressing that the ultimate goal is "fulfilling our mission as an essential service for the entire community."

The STM had previously floated cutting back on services, such as closing the metro at 11 p.m., blaming its financial struggles on inflation and a reduction in ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, the Quebec government proposed to cover 20 per cent of the residual deficit of public transit companies from 2024 to 2028. However, following pressure from city mayors and much of the public, Quebec bumped the offer to 70 per cent ($265 million).

Léonard said that while these latest cuts would help preserve service in 2024, the future beyond that is less certain.

"We won’t be able to keep making these kinds of budget cuts every year," she said.

"We need to be able to count on predictable sources of revenue over the long term so that we can better plan our service offering and our needs with regards to network modernization."