County receives $225,000 in gas tax funding

Meeting at the Bloomfield County Transit bus stop were Todd Smith, MPP, Bay of Quinte, Steve Ferguson, Mayor, Prince Edward County and Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation. – Photo submitted

Prince Edward County received $225,658 of $1.8 million in 2023-24 gas tax funding presented by MPP Todd Smith in the Bay of Quinte riding.

The funding can be used to expand service hours, increase routes, purchase new vehicles or improve accessibility to increase transit ridership.

Belleville received $1,077,543 and Quinte West received $528,936.

“This investment is fantastic news for transit riders in our communities,” said Smith, noting the Ontario government is presenting $380 million across the province to help 102
municipalities.

Funding for the Gas Tax program is set by the number of litres of gasoline sold in the province during the previous fiscal year. For every litre of provincial gas tax revenue collected in the previous fiscal year, two cents are allocated to the Gas Tax program.

Funding allocations are calculated based on total transit ridership (70 per cent of funding) and population (30 per cent of funding) and they are capped at a maximum of 75 per cent of a municipality’s transit spending.