OC Transpo to receive over $100M from feds over next decade

Related to the city’s gap in its transportation blueprint, the federal government is stepping in over a month after the municipality passed its budget with a $120 million shortfall.

According to a press release from the highest level of government, the city will receive over $18 million through the Canada Public Transit Fund, which over the next decade will amount to around $180 million.

The main goal of the funding is to provide “predictable and long-term funding, tied to greater density near transit.” Something councillors, especially the mayor, have been pleading for.

During the city’s budget meeting in December, the mayor noted that the municipality was passing a 3.9 per cent tax increase despite having a shortfall in the transit budget, including a $36 million gap that was unaccounted for.

“I also want to emphasize that if we don’t get the help that we require in the next month or two, we will have to find other solutions for the $36 million shortfall in the transit budget,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said at the time. “It is absolutely critical that the other levels of government do the right thing, as I hope and expect they will, in the coming weeks.”

Nearly a month later, it seems the federal government is stepping in, but the funding won’t start until 2026.

The money provided by the federal government will be used to upgrade, replace or modernize Ottawa’s transit infrastructure and allow it to stay in a state of good repair, something that is needed since the same day the funding was announced Ottawa’s Line 1 light rail transit (LRT) system went down.

According to a memo from Renée Amilcar, general manager of transit services department, the infamous system had a switch issue near Tremblay Station that cause delays to riders. To allow technicians to figure out what went wrong, trains had to operate at a slower speed on one track, leading to an increased number of people at stations on Monday morning. It wasn’t until just before the afternoon rush began that trains were able to run on both tracks again.

“The funding announced today will help Ottawa in a number of important areas, including closing the systemic gap in our transit budget,” Ottawa’s mayor said in the press release. “The transit funding ensures we can maintain and improve service for our rapidly growing city.”

This comes just as lines 2 and 4 of the O-Train are getting off the ground with service six days a week. The system launched at the beginning of the month and has seen a demand from passengers.