PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday announced the launch of the Canada Public Transit Fund, a new $30 billion investment over the first 10 years to expand public transit and make it more accessible across the country.

Trudeau said: “We’re making the largest public transit investment in Canadian history. Our government’s new Canada Public Transit Fund will invest $30 billion in community infrastructure to expand, improve, and modernize public transit – giving Canadians affordable options to get around, and making sure housing development is linked to that funding. Let’s make public transit better, faster, and easier to use.”

The Canada Public Transit Fund will transform the way the government delivers transit funding to communities across the country. This permanent ongoing program will invest an average of $3 billion per year to help cities and communities deliver better public transit systems for Canadians.

Funding will be delivered across three streams:

* Metro-Region Agreements will provide extensive funding to support partnerships between provinces and large urban areas with the largest public transit systems, to build the public transit networks Canadians are counting on. This could include regions such as the Greater Toronto Area and other metropolitan areas like Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montréal, and Halifax, among others. Funding amounts will be based on merit, with the highest amounts of funding going to the most ambitious partnerships, including those that can best demonstrate how investments in transit will help build more homes.

* Baseline Funding will deliver predictable funding to communities across the country with existing transit systems, based on their population and ridership. This will help communities of all sizes upgrade, replace, or modernize their transit infrastructure, including system expansion, lifecycle extension, performance upgrades, and investments in the state of good repair of their fleets.

* Targeted Funding will be available to support key priorities like active transportation, rural and remote transit, transit investments in Indigenous communities, and the electrification of public transit and school transportation. This funding will be delivered on a project-by-project basis through periodic calls for applications, so the federal government can respond to the evolving transit needs of communities in the future.

Funding will begin to flow in 2026, but the government is opening the intakes for Metro-Region Agreements and Baseline Funding now, so that it can provide transit agencies and municipalities with the funding certainty they need to advance projects now.

The Canada Public Transit Fund will also complement the government’s work to build more homes faster. Through programs like the Housing Accelerator Fund, the government is giving cities and towns more money to build more homes – but with a condition: if municipalities want federal funding, they have to change their zoning by-laws to build more housing near transit.

As promised in Budget 2024, the government is applying that rule to public transit funding as well. To access long-term, predictable funding through this program, municipalities will need to take actions that directly unlock housing supply. This includes measures to:

* Eliminate all mandatory minimum parking requirements within 800 metres of a high-frequency transit line.

* Allow high-density housing within 800 metres of a high-frequency transit line.

* Allow high-density housing within 800 metres of post-secondary institutions.

* Complete a housing needs assessment for all communities with a population greater than 30,000.

This will help more people live near transit, create good-paying jobs, grow the economy, and make transit systems better for everyone.

Trudeau said: “By investing in public transit, we’re creating communities that are connected, affordable, and set up to succeed. This is part of our plan to deliver fairness for every generation. Alongside this, we’re cutting red tape, building more homes, modernizing infrastructure, and growing our economy. Our goal is clear – making sure our communities have the investments they need to succeed, now and for generations to come.”