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City gets cash boost for public transit from federal, provincial governments

$31 million to be spent on city transit projects over the decade
2018-03-16 Transit funding announcement JH
Mayor Christian Provenzano and MP Terry Sheehan were at city hall on Friday to announce that the city's public transit will receive more than $31 million in funding over the next ten years. James Hopkin/SooToday

The federal and provincial governments have committed more than $31 million to Sault Ste. Marie’s public transit system over the decade.

The announcement was made today during a press conference at city hall Friday afternoon.

“One thing that came back to us time and again was a need to improve our transit, and we heard that loud and clear,” said Mayor Christian Provenzano during the announcement.

Sault Ste. Marie will receive a little over $17.4 million in federal funding and more than $14.3 million from the province as a result of the agreement.

“It’s a great day in the city for infrastructure,” said Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan. “Transit system is very important for getting people to work, people to school, getting people to church, getting people to the greyhound game.”

“It’s good for the economy, it’s good for the environment, and it’s good for the social well being of people.”

The city’s chief administrative officer Al Horsman says that the money will be spent on both new projects and rehabilitation projects, which will include new vehicles, infrastructure upgrades and a new roof for the transit barn.

“It would be very difficult for us to do it in the scope that we were able to do it,” said Horsman. “We need buses desperately, we’ve been fortunate to be able to get some used buses, but this allows us to get some of the newer buses and to get our fleet back up to a range that it should be in terms of age.”

The city, under the agreement, will have to contribute to the transit projects as well, but those contributions will be a smaller percentage than in years past, Sheehan said during the announcement.

For instance, the city will have to pay 17 per cent of the total tab for public transit rehabilitation projects over the next ten years.

“There is a cost share from the city’s perspective as well, that’s why there’s a multi-party agreement that’s signed for these infrastructure projects and funding,” Horsman said.  

Horsman says that in total, a ‘few hundred thousand dollars’ will be contributed by the city for the current year, with a total of 2-3 million dollars being spent over the course of the next ten years for rehab projects.

The city says it will also use some of the funding to implement improvements based on its recently completed route optimization study.

The federal portion of the funding is part of a bilateral agreement that was signed at the beginning of March, that will see $31 billion doled out for infrastructure projects throughout Ontario over the next decade.

 


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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