Transit funding report to be released Thursday
Posted December 12, 2013 5:17 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A report from a panel looking at ways to raise the billions of dollars needed to upgrade and expand public transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is to be released Thursday.
The Transit Investment Strategy Advisory Panel’s report will be released at 11:30 a.m.
Premier Kathleen Wynne appointed the panel earlier this year to examine proposals from transit planning agency Metrolinx.
Those proposals included a jump in the HST, a five-cent-a-litre regional gas tax, a $350-million-a-year business parking levy and $100 million a year in development charges.
The 13-member panel, chaired by Ryerson University’s Dr. Anne Golden, was also asked to consider other options to find the estimated $34 billion needed to ease congestion in the region.
Government studies show people in the GTHA spend an average of 82 minutes a day commuting, and forecast that will jump to 109 minutes a day by 2031 if nothing is done.
Metrolinx said raising the HST by one percentage point would generate $1.3 billion a year for the transit projects, but the federal government has told Ontario any changes in the sales tax must be done province-wide, not on a regional basis.
Wynne has said Ontario voters will know by next spring exactly what taxes or fees the Liberal government intends to implement to raise the funding for public transit in the Toronto-Hamilton area.
