The wheels on the bus will keep going “round and round” in Brampton, as the city has picked up nearly $70 million in funding for a new bus storage and maintenance facility.
The federal government, province and local representatives were on hand virtually last Friday to announce the funding, which will be delivered through the Public Transit Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Plan.
As part of the funding deal, the city will provide more than $46.6 million, and the province will kick in an additional $58.2 million. Construction of the new facility, which is slated to be approximately 400,000 square feet, will bring in an addition 850 jobs per year, along with a further 1,000 jobs when the facility is fully built and operating. The funding will ensure that residents have access to quality and safe public transit options for years to come, create good paying jobs, while also creating future opportunities for green and low-carbon transit systems,” said Brampton East MP Maninder Sidhu.
The facility will include up to 36 maintenance bays and approximately 40 overhead garage doors to accommodate up to 250 standards 40-foot equivalent buses, in addition to administrative and maintenance support space. Work for the project also includes installing fixed and mobile hoists, a vehicle inspection pit, an overhead crane, fuel storage and dispensing systems, vehicle location and radio system, and backup electricity generation.
In a statement, the city said it continues to seek an additional $150 million in additional funding to electrify the facility. Construction is estimated to begin next year, and the city is currently in the process of conducting an environment assessment for the project.
