"It's a nice little present we get right around Christmas," the bus service's executive director Pat Delmore said Tuesday
Transit Windsor's gas tax take rises to $3.8M, expected to double in 4 years
Brian Cross
A Transit Windsor bus picks up a passenger on Malden Road in LaSalle.
Transit Windsor, and Windsor taxpayers, are the beneficiaries of $3.8 million in gas tax revenues, an annual payout that is expected to double in the next four years.
“It’s a nice little present we get right around Christmas,” the bus service’s executive director Pat Delmore said Tuesday, as the Ministry of Transportation announced $357 million to help 105 Ontario municipalities fund their transit systems.
The money comes from a two-cent-per-litre tax on gasoline sales, which will rise to 2.5 cents in 2019, three cents in 2020 and four cents in 2021, when the total gas tax take will be $642 million.
“So we’re looking at doubling the money we get in the next four years,” said Delmore, who said this year’s gas tax funding is about $250,000 more than last year, a seven per cent increase that reflects Transit Windsor’s rising ridership.
Gas tax funding is based on a formula where the biggest factor is ridership numbers from the previous year. And last year, ridership rose by an impressive 2.58 per cent after years of fairly flat numbers, due to the implementation in September 2016 of the UPass system for University of Windsor students. Ridership numbers for 2017 are expected to rise again, said Delmore, meaning more money from fares as well as from the gas tax.
LaSalle, which began offering public transit to its residents in September with Transit Windsor buses and drivers, will also enjoy a significant rise in gas tax revenues next year. Tuesday’s announcement included $55,504 for LaSalle, to reflect the transit service it provides to people with disabilities. Tecumseh’s receiving $81,542 and Leamington is receiving $195,645.
Transit Windsor’s 2018 proposed budget calls for the City of Windsor to contribute about $13.1 million, a 0.66 per cent increase despite expanded services and labour costs that are rising by $500,000. A big reason for the close-to-zero increase is the rising ridership estimated at about five per cent for 2017, thanks to the UPass program and the LaSalle service.
Delmore said the gas tax money reduces the amount municipal taxpayers must contribute to the public transit system, which takes in about $14.1 million in fares annually.
More than half the $357 million in gas tax money being handed out by the province goes to the City of Toronto, which is receiving $182 million.
Comments
We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.