New Lindsay transit route, expanded fleet, as part of new infrastructure money
Lindsay Transit will be updating its fleet, adding a new route, creating bike racks on buses and upgrading transit software, among other changes after the Province announced new infrastructure funding.
Laurie Scott, minister of infrastructure, announced Kawartha Lakes has been nominated for funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). Ontario will be investing upwards of $790,000 to go towards new transit infrastructure projects.
The project is being nominated under the Public Transit stream of the ICIP, a 10-year, $30 billion fund created by Federal and Provincial levels of government to provide support to help municipalities repair or build critical infrastructure.
Funding received through the ICIP will go towards upgrading the current services in place and as well, will be used towards implementing additional infrastructure for Lindsay Transit. This includes: improvements made to hubs to accommodate growth and enhance accessibility, installation of bike racks on buses and corrals at hub locations for riders, upgrades to the current booking software to improve scheduling and an expansion of the current facility to provide more efficient bus maintenance operations.
“These transit projects make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Scott. “Better public transit creates stronger communities.”
Guided under the Transit Master Plan, the municipality submitted an application earlier this year to ICIP in recognition of transit infrastructure requirements in order to maintain and improve current needs. The Transit Master Plan is a 10-year plan (2018 to 2027) focused on improving service, infrastructure, accessibility and route network design throughout the municipality.
“Support and investment such as the ICIP funding allows us to further meet the needs as outlined in our Transit Master Plan,” stated Mayor Letham. “We are extremely grateful for the success of the application. As a growing municipality, it is important that we maintain our current infrastructure in place so that we can continue to move forward with necessary improvements to transit over the course of the 10-year plan.”
“Our vehicles require upgrading and we want to ensure that safety and accessibility features are a top priority for our riders,” stated Todd Bryant, Manager of Fleet Operations. “We see a variety of customers using our services, such as young mothers and their children, seniors visiting friends and family across the community and even students. I am confident riders will see the difference immediately as we update our fleet, provide quicker and greater access to our Specialized Transit and provide upgraded features to improve and enhance services.”
The project announcement for Kawartha Lakes is in addition to 56 new transit projectsbeing nominated outside of the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area. These transit projects are worth more than $100 million in provincial funding. As of today, Ontario has nominated 350 infastrucutre projects to the Federal government to get people moving and to grow the economy. These projects are now with Federal government for final funding decisions as they are reviewed for eligibility under the ICIP program.
Just like Laurie Scott announced Kawartha Lakes had been picked as one of the Basic Income locations, getting her picture in the paper to slap her constituents across the face by supporting Ford rather then those who voted her in.