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Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – today, the federal government unveiled the details of their next-generation public transit infrastructure funding program, the Canada Public Transit Fund (also known as the Permanent Public Transit Fund). Environmental NGOs and Public Transit Rider groups react to the details of the program, noting their disappointment that the program does not include much-needed funding for public transit operations, and the fund will not become available until 2026, after the next federal election.
“Today the federal government announced a public transit funding program that doesn’t actually fund transit service. A lack of public transit operating funding means buses don’t show up on time, riders spend more time waiting and fares continue to climb faster than inflation. It will result in continued growth of transit vehicle fleets that cities can’t actually afford to put into service. It doubles down on a strategy that has so far failed to actually increase transit service levels. When Canadians can’t rely on public transit service, they pay more by being forced to drive a car, even if they can’t afford one. Saying ‘no’ to operations funding doesn’t result in savings for the government, it means Canadians end up paying the cost in the form of lost time, lost wages, lost opportunities, higher transportation costs, higher carbon emissions and a worse quality of life,” Nate Wallace, Environmental Defence’s Clean Transportation Program Manager, said.
“While Canadian municipalities are responding to the housing crisis, governments must seize the opportunity to match new housing units with new affordable, efficient and reliable public transit services. The more we delay the required investments in public transit the bigger the congestion, safety and pollution problems grow. Investing in transit is investing in people and the future of our municipalities. Today’s announcement is welcome but in the short term the federal government needs to re-engage on operations funding with provincial governments and municipalities.”
-Marc-André Viau, Director of Government Relations at Équiterre
“We are concerned that Prime Minister Trudeau made an announcement at a facility that maintains aging Line 2 subway trains, but did not provide certainty that federal funding for new Line 2 subway trains will come through when it’s needed. The Permanent Public Transit Fund would be even better news if it began immediately and ensured that subway trains could run as frequently as possible. That’s why we are asking the federal government to make the Permanent Public Transit Fund flexible so that cities can use it to operate more frequent transit service.” Shelagh Pizey-Allen, Executive Director of TTC Riders said.
“To transit riders, it feels like this funding announcement is taking place in a parallel universe. 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? Riders and agencies have been asking for operating funding to run more buses but each level of government keeps pointing at each other. One million people ride transit in Metro Vancouver at least once a week, almost 40% of the region. Route 49 alone moves twice as many people as VIA Rail Canada. How crowded does transit have to get before it becomes a political priority?” Denis Agar, Executive Director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders said.
“We are pleased that the government will make transit funding a permanent feature of federal budgets. But we do wish the new Fund covered the costs of day-to-day transit operations such as hiring bus drivers. Without this operations funding it will be hard for transit agencies to grow service at the pace required by the climate crisis. Canada should aim to double public transit ridership by 2035. And that means money from the new Fund should start flowing right away, not in 2026.” Gideon Forman, Climate Change and Transportation Policy Analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation said.
Environmental Defence Backgrounder:
https://environmentaldefence.ca/report/permanent-public-transit-fund/
PMO Press Release:
Federal Government Backgrounder:
For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Karishma Porwal, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca
Anthony Côté-Leduc, Équiterre, acoteleduc@equiterre.org
