St. Catharines tops Niagara transit funding from Province, feds

Published December 12, 2022 at 4:39 pm

A joint federal-provincial project called the Safe Restart Agreement, which reimburses municipal transit shortfalls through the COVID-19 years, has seen Niagara Region transit systems net more than $3.8 million for this year.

The round of funding is being delivered through Phase 4 of the agreement and is meant to cover losses from February 1 through December 31, 2022.

Municipalities will be able to use their funding allocations to cover revenue losses, operating expenses, and provincial transit priority projects, including fare and service integration and On-Demand transit.

The totals municipalities received is based largely on their pre-pandemic rider numbers.

In Niagara, St. Catharines topped the funding list with $2,164,990 in grants, followed by Niagara Falls at $926,518 and Welland at $389,042.

Niagara-on-the-Lake was fourth highest at $160,529, followed by Thorold at $92,621 and Niagara Region at $57,063.