The Guelph transit advocacy group Transit Action Alliance of Guelph has joined 45 organizations in calling for the federal government to provide emergency financial aid to Canada's transit authorities.
Those organizations range from physicians to labour and transit users.
"It represents the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak that groups from across the country have come together to urge support for agencies suffering up to 90 percent ridership loss," said TAAG chair Steven Petric in a news release.
The letter – signed by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Amalgamated Transit Union, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, and the Transit Action Alliance of Guelph, among dozens of other signatories – urges Prime Minister Trudeau to offer transit operators both immediate assistance and on-going, permanent funding.
"The groups see public transit as crucial to the movement of essential workers during the pandemic and to Canada’s effort to build a sustainable recovery," the news release says.
“While the collective focus of transit providers, like Guelph Transit, right now must remain on protecting the health and safety of its customers and employees,” said Petric. “Federal funding is urgently needed to prevent service reductions and ensure that transit users, many of whom are essential workers, can get to work and be physically distant while taking public transit."
An online petition of support has been started at www.keeptransitmoving.ca/take-action.
