New Transit Hub One Step Closer
By John Swartz
The Canadian government announced they are granting $6.1 million to the City of Orillia for transit improvements. This is a follow through step to the Ontario government’s grant of $5.4 announced August 2019.
Its part of a program, Investing In Canada Plan, the feds created in which they fund 40%, provinces 33% and municipalities 27% of projects approved. This means before any money is spent, the City will have to budget $4.5 million as their share, which has not been done yet.
The City applied for 7 buses, 30 shelters, bike racks, video cameras, a fare payment system, and of course a transit terminal. All the money will not be spent in one budget year because it’s a ten year program.
A site for a new terminal has not been chosen yet, but there have been indications the OPP detachment site downtown is in the viewfinder.
At the same time, the federal government also announced transit funding for 30 communities totaling $23 million (of which Orillia shared in).
SUNonline/Orillia at the time of last year’s announcement published a more detailed breakdown of what the funding means for Orillia Transit here.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)