Alberta government announces it will match federal funding for transit

The Alberta government says it will match federal funding for municipal transportation across the province because a lot of revenue has been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier Jason Kenney told a news conference in Calgary on Wednesday that Alberta will contribute about $80 million to bring the combined provincial-federal support to $159 million.

Kenney said municipalities in the Calgary region are to receive $82.4 million.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the funding will help make up for the revenue the city's transit system has lost.

"There are people in every part of this city that need to get to appointments and to work and to school," she said.

"So getting back to where we were is going totake a little bit of time but this gets us so much closer than where we were."

She said it will also help the city move closer to bringing back critical bus routes.

Edmonton's transit system will receive almost $66.9 million.