STM spent nearly $77,000 on reusable water bottles for bus drivers in 2021

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Montreal’s transit agency has divulged that it spent $76,663 to purchase reusable water bottles for its bus drivers.

The purchase was recently published by the Société de transport de Montréal on SEAO.ca, a website dedicated to public calls for tenders, but was made three years ago, according to the disclosure.

On June 29, 2021, Pointe-Claire-based Sobezone Inc. was awarded a contract to supply 5,000 reusable water bottles to the STM without a formal call for tenders. Sobezone bills itself as a company that can provide personalized and promotional products for corporations.

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In an email, STM spokesperson Kevin Bilodeau said the purchase was made so the company could be eco-responsible by avoiding having to purchase throwaway water bottles, as it previously did during heat waves.

“This is in accordance with the STM’s wish to diminish the purchase of plastic, non-reusable bottles,” Bilodeau said, adding that the agency has a responsibility to provide its bus drivers with water during heat waves, according to norms set by Quebec’s workplace safety board, the CNESST.

“The purchase of reusable water bottles allowed us to equip our drivers and allow them to stay hydrated during their work shifts,” Bilodeau continued. “It is thus a solution that allows us to respond to the workplace norms in an ecological fashion. In the three years prior, the STM distributed 45,448 water bottles. It is thus a positive initiative for the environment and for our employees who provide an essential service to Montrealers during periods of heat waves.”

Just under 4,000 bus drivers are employed by the STM.

Bilodeau said the notice was only posted online recently because there’s a backlog of contracts that have yet to be published by the STM, specifically those given without public calls for tenders. The STM awards roughly 15,000 contracts in this manner every year.

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However, the city’s opposition party blasted the purchase, saying the STM has lost control on expenses and that it was clear, even in 2021, that there would be problems meeting revenue targets because of a decline in ridership due to the pandemic.

“While the STM says it wants to limit its expenses as much as possible, we would have expected these types of purchases wouldn’t have been permitted by the administration,” Christine Black, the Ensemble Montréal councillor who speaks on public transit matters, said in a statement.

“On one hand, (Mayor Valérie) Plante drastically increases the registration fee on cars to mop up the deficit of the city’s transit agencies, while on the other hand, we are asking if this increase isn’t the result of poor governance that has persisted over time.”

Black was referring to the decision by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal last month to increase the registration fee for cars to $150 per year from $59.

Plante, who is president of the CMM, said they were forced to increase the fees because of a lack of funding from other sources, including the Quebec government.

jmagder@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jasonmagder

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