Trudeau outlines details of $30B, 10-year fund for public transit

Applications opened Wednesday for two streams in the federal government's new $30-billion public transit fund, even though the money won't start flowing for another two years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

The 10-year Canada Public Transit Fund has been in the works for months and was in the recent federal budget. More details were provided as Trudeau made a visit to a subway yard in Toronto on Wednesday.

«We're stepping up with the kind of predictable, long-term transit funding that means our partners, like the City of Toronto and (Mayor) Olivia Chow, can plan for not just the next couple of years, but for the next decade and beyond,» Trudeau said.

The money will be divided into three categories: baseline funding for existing systems, metro-region agreements for Canada's biggest cities, and funding for specific things like rural communities, Indigenous communities and active transportation.

The Liberals say this will complement the Housing Accelerator Fund by tying housing money to projects that are near public transit.

That plan includes eliminating mandatory minimum parking requirements for new construction and allowing high-density housing projects near transit.

The money isn't set to flow for until 2026 but applications have opened for the baseline funding and the metro agreements to allow cities to start planning.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday it's important to build public infrastructure to withstand the impact of severe weather events.

Major roadways in Toronto, where Trudeau met with Chow, were hit by a flash flood on Tuesday. Parts of the city saw a month's worth of rain in a single day, beating the previous record set in 1941.

Some drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles on flooded streets.