Almost every spin of Barrie Transit’s wheels is greased by federal and provincial funding.
All those millions of dollars play an important role in keeping the buses rolling through stops across the city.
Jason Zimmerman, Barrie’s supervisor of transit operations and infrastructure, says the twin-pronged funding is vital.
“This federal and provincial transit funding has played a crucial role in offsetting costs for operating and maintaining or improving transit infrastructure,” he said. “Without this funding, the city would be forced to rely more heavily on local revenue sources through taxation, which may not be sufficient to meet demand.
“It could result in reduced service hours, less frequency of services during peak service demand times, and a significant decrease in accessibility or infrastructure upgrades,” Zimmerman added. “This funding has played a strong role in ensuring the city can continue to provide safe, efficient and sustainable transit service options for our community.”
It was announced in early March that Barrie will receive federal funding of almost $11.4 million during the next decade to upgrade, replace or modernize and maintain the city’s public transit infrastructure. It could help pay for anything from roadside transit shelters to new buses.
A conventional new transit bus costs $956,800 (plus HST) in 2025.
The money comes through the new Canada Public Transit Fund’s Baseline Funding stream, and is conditional on the submission of a capital plan and the signing of a funding agreement, between the city and Ottawa. The City of Barrie will receive $11,390,690 from 2026 to 2036.
Public transit costs more than the single, cash fares of $3.50.
Barrie Transit’s 2025 budget has expenses of almost $27.2 million, revenues of $9.85 million, including bus fares, and requires almost $17.5 million from city taxpayers.
Barrie Transit riders took more than four million trips on city buses in 2024.
Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal, being built at the corner of Essa Road and Gowan Street, is being funded from all three levels of government.
The $29.6-million project is 40 per cent funded by the feds, 33.33 per cent by the province and 26.67 per cent ($9.2 million) by the city. Of the $29.6-million total cost, $23.5 million is for construction alone, with the remainder for design work, utility fees, site reports and so-called soft costs.
The station is to host seamless transit services and connections between Simcoe County, Muskoka and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and be integrated with two-way GO train services, located at nearby Allandale Waterfront GO station. The new transit terminal should be operational later this year.
But transit finding doesn’t just come for large capital projects.
In February 2023, for example, it was announced that Barrie was getting nearly $2.3 million in provincial gas-tax funding to help the city operate and improve local transit. The funding could be used to extend service hours, buy transit vehicles, add routes, improve accessibility or upgrade infrastructure.
Brent Forsyth, the city’s director of transit and parking strategy, has said this annual funding is built into the city’s operating budget and used to help offset the operating costs of Barrie Transit, along with fiscally manage the increasing costs associated with inflation and fuel prices.
Funding for the gas-tax program is determined by the number of litres of gasoline sold in the province during the previous year. Municipalities that support public transit services in their community receive two cents per litre of provincial gas-tax revenue.
And the funding comes for all sorts of reasons.
In early December 2022, Barrie got almost $1.1 million in new transit funding to offset the impact of COVID-19, delivered through the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement. Ridership was naturally hurt by the pandemic.
There was additional gas tax funding in early 2022 to support the expansion and improvement of public transit services in Barrie, totalling $2.23 million.
There was another $2.25 million in gas-tax funding in January 2021 to offset Barrie Transit’s operating costs.
In the summer of 2020, it was announced that all three levels of government were investing more than $40 million in the future of Barrie’s transit system for projects completed through a funding partnership.
The federal government invested more than $16 million through the Public Transit Infrastructure Stream (PTIS), which is part of the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan. Meanwhile, the provincial government contributed more than $13.6 million and the City of Barrie chipped in more than $10.9 million.
The money will be used to help replace 30 city buses, including 21 specialized for people with accessibility needs, as well as building the long-awaited new transit hub, or the Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal.
In addition to the replacement of the city’s fleet with 30 low-floor, accessible buses, transit users with accessibility needs benefited from the purchase of 21 new specialized para-transit city buses, to replace the existing fleet during the next seven years.
BarrieToday, an affiliate of InnisfilToday, also published stories about Barrie getting $2.3 million in gas-tax funding in early 2019, then $2 million again in 2017.
And in August 2016, federal and provincial funding totalling $4.1 million was invested to help Barrie Transit purchase 13 more buses and six specialized buses.