THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay will have access to nearly $4 million in new public transit relief funds in 2021 – though it’s unlikely the full amount will be needed to cover pandemic-related impacts, city staff say.
The money comes from $2 billion set aside to help Ontario’s municipal transit agencies under the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement.
According to details recently released by the city, the newest instalments of that funding will offer Thunder Bay just over $800,000 in Phase 2, and $3.1 million for Phase 3, which covers the period from April to December of 2021.
The allocations are calculated using a formula based on prior ridership numbers. Cities can then claim transit revenue losses and additional costs related to the pandemic, up to the maximum allocation amount (COVID-related savings must also be deducted).
Thunder Bay was previously allocated nearly $3.2 million for transit under Phase 1 of the funding, which was announced in August.
The city used about $1.9 million of that in 2020, said central support manager Andrea Morrison, and carried the remainder over to 2021.
Transit revenues were projected to drop by about $1.7 million from a typical year in 2021 due to the impacts of COVID-19, with the department modelling ridership 20 per cent below normal levels.
The Phase 2 funding can be used for expenses incurred between October 2020 and March of this year, while Phase 3 covers the remainder of 2021 from April 1 to Dec. 31.
Based on trends to this point, it’s unlikely the city will claim its full allocation in 2021, Morrison said, though the uncertainty of the local COVID-19 situation makes projections difficult.
Other Ontario cities have exhausted their Safe Restart transit funding, she noted. If that were to happen, the city could access up to an additional $2.4 million in separate provincial relief funds, depending on the impact of changes in ridership.
A transfer payment agreement between the province and the city was set to come before city council for approval Monday, before a software outage cancelled that meeting. It’s now expected to appear on the March 22 agenda.
