Brampton, Ontario; St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador secure joint funding for transit projects

The government of Canada, along with two provincial governments and local municipalities, have committed more than C$175 million (US$140 million) in total funds that will see transit improvements delivered in St. John’s, Labrador and Newfoundland and Brampton, Ontario.

The government of Canada’s share of the projects is being funded through the Public Transit Infrastructure Stream (PTIS) of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

In Brampton, C$174.7 million (US$139.69 million) will build a new maintenance and storage facility for the city’s bus fleet.

Phase 1 of the project includes the construction of an approximately 400,000-square-foot transit maintenance and storage facility with up to 36 maintenance bays and approximately 40 overhead garage doors to accommodate up to 250 standard 40-foot equivalent buses, in addition to administrative and maintenance support space. Work also includes installing fixed and mobile hoists, a vehicle inspection pit, an overhead crane, fuel storage and dispensing systems, a vehicle location and radio system and backup electricity generation.

“Brampton Transit is one of the fastest-growing transit systems in Canada and the new facility will help support our accessible and connected transit network and create approximately 850 new Brampton jobs per year in its construction and around 1,000 jobs when the facility is fully built and operating. Building on our council’s commitment to being a green city, we continue to seek funding to electrify the facility,” explained Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.

Longer term, the facility will accommodate installation of electric bus infrastructure. Upon delivery, the new facility will improve the city’s capacity, quality and safety of transit infrastructure.

Canada is contributing C$69.9 million (US$55.89 million) through the PTIS, while the province of Ontario is contributing C$58.2 million (US$46.54 million) and the city of Brampton is contributing more than C$46.4 million (US$37.1 million) toward the project. The funding will support the first phase of the two-phase project. Construction is targeted to begin in 2022 with an opening estimate for Phase 1 in late 2024.  

In Labrador and Newfoundland, St. John’s Transportation Commission will upgrade its electronic fare collection system on its Metrobus and GoBus paratransit services. The new system will improve fare collection, as well as off real-time mobile ticketing or phone payment options to passengers.

St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen expressed his gratitude of the federal and provincial funding.

“Once implemented, we will see improvements for transit customers and the ability to pay using a mobile device. These upgrades will improve customer service and support the sustainability of Metrobus and GoBus,” said Mayor Breen.

The approximate C$418,000 (US$334,237) project is being funded with C$169,638 (US$135,644) from the federal PTIS, C$126,347 (US$101,028) from Ontario and C$122,040 (US$97,584) from the city of St. John’s.