MONTREAL — The head of Montreal’s transit agency, the Société de transport de Montréal, has announced his resignation effective April 4, calling for changes in the current structure of the transit system.
The Montreal Gazette reports that Luc Tremblay, the STM director general, announced his resignation last week, decried problems with the authority overseeing transit planning, the Autorité régionale the transport métropolitain. He noted that the province’s pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, had been granted abilities to address land acquisition and bypass urban planning rules not available to any agency. The CDPQ is financing construction of two major light rail projects in the city.
“If we had the same rules, we could do some wonderful things,” he said. “And this is one of the things we would have liked the ARTM to stand up for.”
Global News reports Tremblay said the ARTM is working beyond its mandate by operating Montreal’s rail rapid transit and bus system rather than working to finance it: “Let us do our job and do yours. Go get financing. … The governance, it’s very hard, it’s complicated, it’s non-efficient.”
In an email to Global News, an ARTM spokesman responded, “The change has not been easy for some and there has been resistance, unfortunately. … The ARTM intends to pursue the renewal of public transit methods and we will work constructively with the STM’s next general management.”
Tremblay, who joined STM in 1994, had been the agency’s CEO since 2014.
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