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Infrastructure Canada opens the first round of the Rural Transit Solutions Fund with planning grants up to $50k CAD

Part of the Government’s promise to make $250M CAD in federal funding available over the next five years, this first round of funding provides grants for planning, capital, and zero-emission projects.

Via Transportation •
On August 3rd, Infrastructure Canada announced the first round of funding opportunities from the Rural Transit Solutions Fund, which will contribute $250M CAD in funding to rural communities over the next 5 years.  The first round of funding opportunities include transit planning grants of up to $50,000 CAD, capital grants of up to $3M CAD , and zero-emission transit grants of up to $5M CAD
  • Transit planning grants can focus on a variety of topics including route assessments, on-demand transit studies, and more. Infrastructure Canada plans to expand capital project funding in future years that will build upon the solutions identified through these planning grants. 
  • Capital grants can be used to purchase traditional fixed route buses and smaller on-demand vehicles, as well as on-demand software. 
  • Zero-emission grants can cover zero-emissions fleet purchases as well as charging stations. 

Rural municipalities, local and regional governments, and Indigenous governing bodies are eligible to apply for all grants offered in this round. Nonprofits who are mandated to improve Indigenous outcomes as well as Indigenous development corporations are also eligible to apply. Provinces and territories are only eligible to apply for capital grants.  

The federal match for capital grants is 80% for local and regional governments and 100% for Indigenous recipients. There is no match required for planning grants. Recipients are welcome to work with private sector partners on the implementation of innovative rural transit solutions facilitated by these grants. For more information, visit the program details page for Rural Transit Solutions fund. 

The first call for applications are for the $50,000 planning grants which are due on October 8th. With our Via Strategies team and Remix’s planning tools, we can help you determine how on-demand transit could work for your rural community. Please reach out to our team at   partnerships@ridewithvia.com to get started.

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