for the city of ottawa, which already complains it doesn’t get its fair share of transit funding from the province, things are about to get worse.
a study released this past week by ontario’s financial accountability office says ottawa will see the steepest decline of anywhere in the province next year in per-resident subsidies for transit. the reasons? declining gas tax revenue and the end of special post-pandemic “safe restart” funding.
ottawa will be the hardest hit of five regions where subsidies will decline in 2024-25, the report shows.
“the fao projects that the ottawa economic region will experience the largest reduction in per-resident subsidies, from $59.61 in 2022-23 to $31.91 in 2024-25, primarily due to the conclusion of the safe restart agreement,” says the report that was released on thursday.
windsor-sarnia, london, stratford-bruce peninsula, and kingston-pembroke are the other regions hit by the reductions.
in contrast, the per-resident subsidy in toronto will rise to $196.49 in 2024-25 from $191 in 2022-23, the report says, largely because of heavy subsidies provided to the regional carrier, metrolinx, which serves commuters in toronto and the entire golden horseshoe area.