Canada Public Transit Fund Updates
On July 17th, the Federal government launched the intake process for the Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF), formerly referred to as the Permanent Public Transit Fund, with funding set to flow in 2026. The CPTF will provide an average $3 billion per year in permanent, predictable federal public transit infrastructure funding. Transit agencies can now apply for two of the program’s three funding streams, with a deadline of 3:00 PM EDT on September 16, 2024 for Expressions of Interest for the Baseline Stream.
CUTA has been consistently advocating for this change, arguing that an intake process in advance of the 2026 program was need to give transit agencies and municipalities the runway needed to advance projects now.
Following the announcement, OPTA members were invited to join two CUTA webinars, each featuring presentations by staff from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, with a moderated Q&A session. Those webinars were recorded and the videos are now available to members for on-demand viewing.
You will need to log in to the OPTA member-only page to access the secure video link and a PDF doc of the questions from both webinars. Here are examples of some of the questions answered verbally during the webinars:
- Does the September 2024 deadline for EOI’s apply only to the first year (2026-27) of funding?
- Does funding have to be utilized in the year it flows or can it be carried forward to a future year without impacting that year’s funding?
- Can the funding be used for intercommunity busing?
- Will there be future application opportunities for small communities that may not qualify now?