Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, July 23, 2015. (Photo by Mike Vlasveld)Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, July 23, 2015. (Photo by Mike Vlasveld)
Chatham

Funding For Public Transit

The province will be giving Chatham-Kent money to spend on public transit.

The Ontario transportation minister recently announced that $910,120 would be given to the municipality from this year's gas tax fund.

Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope says not many people use public transit in the community, so it would be more beneficial to allocate those funds elsewhere, but there are strict rules in place.

"For a number of years now I've been putting a proposal in front of the government to consider allowing us some flexibility," says Hope.

If the municipality had approval to spend the money elsewhere, Hope says the funding would go towards areas such as aging infrastructure. However, no such approval has been granted.

"It's one of those things that you accept it gracefully and you try to work on initiatives that are out there to try and get the government to understand where you're coming from," he says.

For those who use public transit, Hope says they will be using the funds to improve the system to better serve its customers.

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