Dr. Josipa Petrunic, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium released the following statement related to the Ontario Government's Budget 2022

TORONTO, April 29, 2022 /CNW/ - The Ontario Government tabled Budget 2022, announcing funding for transit agencies that have suffered during the pandemic and since with low ridership. As a consortium dedicated to advancing mobility and transportation solutions required for a low-carbon economy, we welcome the provincial government's commitment to build and expand transit to communities across the province.

As part of rebuilding Ontario's Economy, the government is leveraging the province's strengths, such as clean electricity, to develop a low‐carbon hydrogen economy that will create jobs, attract investment, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We now urge the Ontario government to take further action to support scalable, mass-transit demonstration and integration projects to secure innovation and environmental benefits for all Ontarians.

It is also promising to see announcements to bolster critical mineral strategy, battery manufacturing and vehicle production mandates that will support the green economy in Ontario. It will help create more jobs across the province and boost Ontario's position in the journey towards green transition. CUTRIC is delighted by the $61.6 Billion investment in public transit over ten years for Ontarians to support jobs and communities. We now urge the government to invest further in transit electrification and look at innovative ways to keep the transportation sector.

"The 2022 budget is a step in the right direction to support and strengthen transit agencies across the province. However, more should be done to decongest roads and build greener communities. While CUTRIC applauds the government for encouraging growth in the hydrogen economy, we recommend that the province invests $10 million in hydrogen fuel cell electric bus deployments in future Budget deliberations," said Josipa Petrunić. She added, "There will be an opportunity for the province to do this in their money bill in September. We look forward to being a partner in developing a robust Hydrogen strategy that will help transition the province away from gasoline and other fossil fuels."

Transit continues to move Ontarians and take them where they need to go while helping reduce emissions and decongest cities. Our members across transit agencies, advanced manufacturers, utilities, government agencies, academics, and not-for-profits look forward to working on our many ongoing and new low-carbon projects to the benefit of millions in our cities across Ontario.

About CUTRIC
CUTRIC is a non-profit innovation consortium with a vision to make Canada a global leader in low-carbon smart mobility. Through industry-led collaborative research and large-scale technology integration trials, CUTRIC is working to achieve this goal by focusing on technology development, integration and standardization of low-carbon propulsion systems and smart vehicle systems, data-driven analytics in mobility, and cybersecurity in transportation.

SOURCE Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC)

Media contact: Grace Reilly, 514-244-3244, [email protected]