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The Canadian government is drawing cheers from transit agencies and criticism from riders after announcing a Canada Public Transit Fund that pours C$30 billion over 10 years into new vehicles and infrastructure, but is silent on the yawning operating deficits facing local transit systems.
he program consists of three funding streams, Housing, Infrastructures and Communities Canada explained in a release:
• A series of Metro-Region Agreements, averaging $2 billion per year over 10 years, to “offer predictable funding in regions with the highest demand for public transit and active transportation funding, and where travel patterns often cross municipal boundaries”;
• $500 million per year in baseline funding to support “routine capital and non-capital investment” in transit and active transportation infrastructure;
• $500 million per year in targeted funding, to be managed through specific calls for proposals in areas like active transportation, zero-emissions transit, and rural transit.
Transit riders and their supporters pointed to the absence of any news on funding for day-to-day transit operations, as well as the timing of a funding announcement that takes effect in 2026, after the next federal election.
“To transit riders, it feels like this funding announcement is taking place in a parallel universe,” said Denis Agar, executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, in a release coordinated by Environmental Defence Canada. “Capital funding to build transit will be crucial for future generations, but what about the people that are riding transit today? The ones that are constantly stuck in congested, overcrowded buses? When is our funding announcement?”
Read the full post at The Energy Mix.
