Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced $975,000 in extra funding for PR Transpo from the Community Transportation Grants program (CTG). Mulroney made the announcement during a June 28 virtual media conference.
“This is especially important now as Ontario reopens,” Mulroney said, noting that seniors and others will benefit from having a reliable public transit service to help them get to medical appointments, do their shopping, and attend social and recreational activities.
The United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) launched the PR Transpo service in 2019 with a CTG grant. PR Transpo was one of several regional transit programs funded as pilot projects through the CTG.
Last year the pandemic shut down many of the CTG-funded regional transit projects because of public health restrictions. That created a funding shortfall for many projects.
The new CTG funding for PR Transpo is part of a $14 million boost from the provincial government to support the original regional transit pilot projects. The $975,000 for PR Transpo will extend the current operation life of the pilot project to 2025, allowing more time for it to become financially self-sustaining.
The UCPR’s economic development department has revamped PR Transpo into an on-call public transit service that will Warden Stéphane Sarrazin observed “will better serve” the needs of the region.
