British Columbia matches CA$2.2B federal investment for transit funding

Province of British Columbia

British Columbia will match the Canadian governments CA$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) in transit funding for projects in the Metro Vancouver area.

“Last week’s federal budget confirmed that the Trudeau government has joined with the government of British Columbia in historic levels of funding for new transit infrastructure – as they announced approximately CA$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) over 11 years for Metro Vancouver transit projects,” said Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and Minister Responsible for TransLink.

He continued, “With CA$4.4 billion (US$3.3 billion) in senior government funding now committed, the region is poised to make real progress in achieving the transit priorities for the Lower Mainland. British Columbia looks forward to continuing to work with our federal and regional partners on delivering the next phase of these projects.”

Minister Fassbender noted the province’s recognition that with population growth comes the need to ensure communities are liveable and easy to traverse with reliable transportation options.

“Today’s announcement is on top of the almost a quarter of a billion dollars that we committed for Phase One projects to improve transportation in the region, including the purchase of new SkyTrain cars, a new SeaBus, upgrades to bus exchanges and SkyTrain stations and important design and early works on rapid transit projects along the Broadway Corridor and Surrey-Newton-Guildford,” said Minister Fassbender. “With this historic level of funding commitments from senior levels of governments for Phase Two, the province is committed to continuing to work with all of our partners to finalize important details about these new rapid transit and other projects so that we can move forward and get ‘shovels in the ground’ as quickly as possible.”

For more information on Canadian rail projects, visit IRJ Pro.