Canada commits to largest-ever public transit investment

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has unveiled the Canada Public Transit Fund, a new CA$30 billion investment aimed at expanding public transit and making it more accessible across the country. 

It's the largest public transit investment in Canada's history, Trudeau said in a news release.

The permanent ongoing program will invest an average of $3 billion per year over the first 10 years to help cities and communities deliver better public transit services.

The funding will be provided across three streams:

• metro region agreements to support partnerships between provinces and large urban areas with the largest public transit systems;
• baseline funding to provide predictable funding to communities with existing transit systems, based on their population and ridership; and
• targeted funding to support priorities such as active transportation, rural and remote transit, transit investments in Indigenous communities, and the electrification of public transit and school transportation.

Baseline funding will help communities of all sizes upgrade, replace or modernize their transit infrastructure, including system expansions, lifecycle extensions, performance upgrades and state-of-good-repair investments in fleets, said Trudeau.

Funding will begin to be distributed in 2026, but the intakes for metro region agreements and baseline funding have opened.