(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Ian Gustafson

Aging Fleet

Red Deer County to receive up to $3 million in federal grant to upgrade transit buses

Feb 26, 2025 | 9:55 AM

Red Deer Country will receive up to $3,000,000 from the federal government to upgrade their fleet of transit buses.

On Tuesday morning council unanimously approved the request for decision to receive the grant from the Government of Canada’s Rural Transit Solutions Fund to purchase conventional Compressed Natural Gas vehicles.

A council resolution was required as part of the agreement process and the county will contribute $1,000,000 for up to a $4,000,000 total.

County officials say the current fleet has aged, and as ridership continues to grow, more buses will be required. These funds are expected to provide an opportunity to update the fleet as it ages and assist with the capital purchase.

The fleet consists of one conventional bus which runs on natural gas purchased in 2016 and a diesel bus, which is the back up, bought in 2009.

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The county also has a para-transit bus of compressed natural gas and they currently have no back up. If the para-transit bus needed service, county officials say they’ve previously borrowed a bus from the City.

The Rural Transit Solutions Fund is a federal grant program of $250 million over five years which provides funding to target the development of transit solutions in rural communities across the country.

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