Supporting More Travel Options, Improving Local Transit for Commuters and Families
February 8, 2017 10:30 A.M.Ministry of Transportation
Ontario is boosting support for Mississauga by providing reliable, long-term funding to improve and expand local transit and offer more travel options for commuters and families.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca was joined by Mississauga–Streetsville MPP Bob Delaney and Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie today to make the announcement.
The province has heard directly from people who are frustrated by their daily commute and from regions and municipalities that are struggling to meet their transit needs. In response to these concerns, starting in 2019, Ontario will increase funding for MiWay and other municipal transit systems across the province through an enhancement to the existing gas tax program, doubling the municipal share from two cents per litre to four cents by 2021. There will be no increase in the tax that people in Ontario pay on gasoline as a result of the enhancement to the program.
Mississauga is able to use the new funding to plan for and make major infrastructure upgrades, buy additional transit vehicles, add more routes, extend hours of service, implement fare strategies and improve accessibility.
Supporting stronger public transit systems is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts
- Mississauga will receive more than $16.6 million through the 2016-17 gas tax program, and could see its funding increased to an estimated $20 million in 2019-20, $24 million in 2020-21 and to $32 million in 2021-22.
- Overall, provincial gas tax funding will increase to 2.5 cents per litre in 2019–20, 3 cents in 2020–21 and 4 cents in 2021–22.
- This year the province committed $334.5 million in gas tax funding to 99 municipalities. This amount is expected to increase to about $401.3 million in 2019–20, $481.5 million in 2020–21, $642 million in 2021–22.
- Ontario made gas tax program funding permanent in 2013 to provide a stable source for municipal transit investments.
- One bus takes up to 40 vehicles off the road, and keeps 25 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere each year.
- Research shows that every $100 million of public infrastructure investment in Ontario boosts GDP by $114 million, particularly in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Source:
Ontario Ministry of Transportation
Photo from www.news.ontario.ca
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