Niagara gets $148 million for transit
Commitment over 10 years to be shared by 8 municipalities
With an investment of $148 million from upper-tier governments, Niagara’s long-awaited intermunicipal transit service could be much closer to reality.
Calling it “the single largest investment in transit in Niagara’s history,” Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey said the eight Niagara municipalities receiving funding are free to use it for transportation-related projects, whether it’s transit services or active transportation projects like trails and bike lanes.
“It’s a bit more holistic and less stringent,” Badawey said, adding it will be up to municipalities to decide on priorities for the funds.
He hopes, however, the bulk of the funding — to be spread out over 10 years — will be used to ensure that “a streamlined, more efficient and affordable regional (transit) system is put in place which aligns with the future GO service.”
“That’s the key … It’s well overdue,” Badawey said, adding it’s an initiative he recalls discussing 20 years ago.
Badawey teamed up with St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle and MPP Jim Bradley at regional headquarters Thursday to announce $81.2 million from the federal government and $67 million in provincial funding to help cover the costs of transit capital infrastructure for the next decade.
Bittle said intermunicipal transit “is one of the issues that was holding Niagara back,” when competing with other municipalities to attract employers to the area.
“This really helps us take the next step forward. I’m looking forward to working with the mayors, because we’re not quite at intermunicipal transit yet, but hopefully this is the next step towards that ultimate goal,” Bittle said.
Bradley said the funding, being divvied up among the Niagara municipalities providing transit services, is in addition to uppertier government gas tax money provided annually to help cover the operating costs of the services.
“This is capital — the gas tax is operating,” Bradley said.
The investments, he added, “are necessary if we want to maintain a booming economy and a high standard of living.”
Regional Chair Alan Caslin said the size of the investment means paying for the service will no longer be as much of obstacle.
“It’s going to mean that long term plans for consolidated transit are going to become a reality. This will really be the catalyst for putting us over the tipping point.”
Although the funding won’t speed up the work being done by Niagara Region’s intermunicipal transit working group, which is expected to have finalized plans for the transition to the consolidated service by the end of the year, it may help make political decisions easier when it comes to allocating funding.
“A lot of it is the political and bureaucratic will on pulling this all together,” Caslin said. “There are a number of changes that will take place in consolidating it, as well as infrastructure. That all has to be co-ordinated properly in order to get the best bang for the buck.”
The lion’s share of the funding goes to St. Catharines, with $47 million from the federal government and $39 million from the province. Niagara Falls will receive nearly $21 million in federal funding and $17 million from the province; and Welland gets $7 million from the federal government and provincial funding of about $6.5 million. The remaining funding goes to Thorold, Niagara Region, Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Niagara-onthe-Lake.