THUNDER BAY – The provincial government has topped up an important source of funding for Thunder Bay Transit that was threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Depressed demand for gasoline meant the province raked in significantly less money in 2021 from the Ontario gas tax – about one third less, overall.
The province announced Friday it would cover that shortfall, allocating roughly $2.25 million for Thunder Bay, just slightly higher than the last pre-COVID allocation, in 2019-2020.
City treasurer Linda Evans said the announcement would have no impact on the proposed 2022 municipal budget, which is currently being reviewed by city council, since it anticipated funding would remain steady.
In a release, the government said maintaining the transit funding, which cost around $120 million province-wide, was crucial to ensure the continued availability of transit services.
The support comes at a time when Thunder Bay Transit is already struggling with heavy losses.
Thunder Bay Transit is projected to take a $1.9 million hit from COVID-19 in 2022, mainly due to lost revenues from ridership levels that remain significantly depressed on many routes.
That amount will be funded out of the city’s rainy day stabilization reserve fund, but staff have warned COVID costs will eat up more than half of the account’s roughly $12 million balance without additional support from provincial and federal governments.
Funding from upper levels of government more than compensated for the city’s losses in 2020 and 2021, but city leaders have said there’s still no word on whether that will be the case this year.
