Mississauga set to receive another $30 million in transit funding
Published March 2, 2021 at 4:49 pm
Mississauga, which has lost more transit revenue in 2021 due to the second, ongoing lockdown and weeks-long stay-at-home-order, is getting some additional support from the province.
Recently, the province announced that it’s providing $30,393,091 in funding to help the city address the financial impacts on its transit system from the COVID-19 pandemic.
An additional $528,099 will be provided to the Region of Peel.
The province says funding is in addition to the $2 billion previously committed by Ontario and the federal government through the Safe Restart Agreement, an agreement launched last year to help municipalities continue to deliver transit services amid COVID-19-related shutdowns.
“This is great news for Mississauga,” said Rudy Cuzzetto, MPP for Mississauga-Lakeshore, in a statement.
“COVID-19 continues to impact our transit system and this additional funding will ensure local transit can continue to operate and provide a vital service for those who need it.”
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The additional $150 million in provincial funding means that there is a total of $650 million in funding still available to municipalities up to December 31, 2021, with extensions to December 2022 granted on a case-by-case basis.
The province is also calling on the federal government to match the additional funding.
As part of the Safe Restart Agreement funding, municipalities need to work with the province to “explore options to ensure local transit is safe, sustainable, affordable and integrated, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”
Ontario is allowing municipalities to use Safe Restart Agreement funding towards new initiatives to make it easier and more affordable to travel between different transit systems, such as adding capacity for on-demand micro-transit and increasing fare and service integration across the region.
The first phase of Safe Restart funding flowed $700 million to municipalities in 2020 and to date, $1.5 billion funding has been allocated.
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