Transit upgrades are on the way in Timmins.
Through a joint partnership with the federal, provincial and municipal governments, three projects are moving ahead. Two buses — a conventional bus along with a low-floor accessible paratransit mobility bus — are being replaced, and the Timmins Transit terminal is being renovated to improve accessibility.
Altogether, the projects have a price tag of $2.4 million.
The federal government is providing $968,000, the province portion is $806,587, with the municipality covering $645,414.
According to Timmins Transit manager Fred Gerrior, the city has a fleet of 19 conventional buses and six para-transit buses.
For today's announcement, the cost for a replacement bus is $693,000. That includes $277,200 from the federal level, $230,977 from the province and $184,823 from the city.
It will be equipped with Q'Straint's Quantum system, which the city introduced last year.
Gerrior explained it allows people in the accessible community to get in and secure themselves in 25 seconds.
“Which helps keep buses on time and also helps with the dignity of folks too that they’re not having to hook up seatbelts and stuff like that and hold the bus up,” he said.
He said the system has been well-received in the community.
The bus is in pre-production. Gerrior said they are working with Nova Bus to get it equipped.
The low-floor accessible paratransit mobility bus has a pricetag of $352,000. That includes $140,800 from the federal government, $117,322 from the province, and $93,878 from the city.
According to the announcement, it is for "the replacement of existing buses with two paratransit vehicles to meet all accessibility standards and improve the capacity and quality of the public transit system."
Renovations at the terminal for accessible washrooms and to ensure users can access it barrier-free will cost $1,375,001. That includes $550,000 from the federal government, $458,288 from the province, and $366,713 from the city.
“We have a wonderful terminal here, we need to upgrade into some accessible washrooms and make sure that our whole facility is inclusive for everyone. Additionally what we’ll be doing as part of the whole accessibility package for Timmins is the inclusion of accessible bus pads throughout the city so that it kind of mirrors with the accessible buses and the accessible bus pads to have a full network available for everybody,” said Gerrior.
For the renovations, he said a firm will be hired to review the infrastructure and offer the options for accessible washrooms. He said there will be full public engagement in the process.
The federal funding for the program is through the Public Transit Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada plan.
"Investing in integrated and accessible public transit systems is vital for building more inclusive communities. The projects announced today will improve public transit services for all Timmins residents, allowing them to get where they need to go safely and with ease," said Terry Sheehan, Sault Ste. Marie MP on behalf of Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna, in a news release.
