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London will receive a hefty $51 million from Ottawa over a decade in order to help build up its public transit, a local MP outlined Friday.
Coming from the federal government’s $3-billion Canada Public Transit Fund announced this year, the city and London Transit Commission (LTC) can expect to receive an $5.1 million each year for 10 years beginning in 2026.
“The reason this is so critical is not the amount . . . but it’s predictable,” London North Centre Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos said. “The LTC and council can now count on that year after year for a 10-year period, we’ve never seen this in the community.”
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The fund is aimed at bolstering public transit and cycling use as well as walking paths over cars, encouraging denser transit-oriented development, and mitigating climate change.
Fragiskatos said the money is not intended for LTC’s operations, but for long-term, expensive capital projects such as buying new or replacing aging buses, or rebuilding LTC’s Highbury Avenue building.
The money will help LTC grow as the city’s population continues to balloon, he said, and will also come in handy as London looks to build out future rapid transit projects in the coming years.
Kelly Paleczny, general manager of the transit commission, said the funding is “great news” and will provide the city and LTC some much needed relief.
The federal funding could help the commission’s current fleet overhaul program that is replacing 17 to 20 buses per year, she said.
LTC aims to replace its buses every 12 years to maximize their use before they begin to break down, Paleczny said. A delay this year in the delivery of buses means pushing existing ones past their shelf life, leading to spontaneous repairs that could take them out of service.
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“From the rider perspective, it means a more reliable service, because you’ve got buses that are good to go every day,” Paleczny said, adding that city council and London Transit staff will still have to hash out the finer details of what the money would best be spent on.
Mayor Josh Morgan is also excited, saying the stable funding lets both the city and LTC plan their priorities well in advance, which will be “a way more effective use of taxpayer dollars.”
Early next year the city is expecting to unveil its 25-year master transportation planning document that will dictate what road, transit, biking, and sidewalk projects the city will focus its money on.
“Through the development of the (plan) we need to be ready with initiatives for when the federal government is ready to flow this money,” Morgan said.
“These things are lining up very well for the city of London, and that allows us to put a lot of options on the table.”
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