A massive transportation investment has been announced for Belleville, providing 4 busses and 3 accessible vehicles for Belleville transit.
Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith, along with Mayor Neil Ellis and Lennox and Addington MPP Ric Bresee, announced the $12 million joint investment between the municipal, federal and provincial governments.
Ontario put in $3,915,561 while the federal government provided $4.696742 and the municipal government added $3,131,533.
The combined funding is being used to purchase four full length hybrid busses, a new accessible mobility bus, and a pair of fully accessible vans.
Mayor Neil Ellis said that the new busses were going to be replacing older diesel-powered busses in the fleet, which were becoming worn out from years of daily heavy use.
“Our transit riders keep going up, we’re way over a million ridership,” said Mayor Ellis. “You know, it’s time to get off diesel and try to get environmental. This is the first step, and when technology gets up, you’ll probably see a whole electric fleet.”
Additionally, some of the funding is going towards funding a smart fare card system for the transit fleet, improving accessibility at bus stop locations, new sidewalk constructions along college street east, and a trail along the hydro corridor linking Sidney Street to the Moira river.
MPP Smith said that it was good to have all three levels of government co-operate on a project like this.
“It’s fantastic to have new modern green accessible transit for commuters in Belleville,” said MPP Smith. “And the thing I really like about this is that it also has a walking and riding and rollerblading component to it.”
Shortly after the conference, MPP Smith announced his resignation, with a post on the social media site X.
