Funding Shared Micromobility in Canada: Active Transportation Fund

Canada’s Active Transportation Fund (ATF) represents a historic opportunity for shared micromobility systems across the country and is a major win for the industry, bikeshare and scootershare rolling stock is now eligible for funding.

The Active Transportation Fund’s inclusion of shared micromobility rolling stock represents a significant shift in federal recognition of shared micromobility as essential transportation infrastructure. This change acknowledges what the industry has long known: bikeshare and scootershare systems are proven tools for reducing car dependence, supporting transit networks, and providing affordable transportation options. They also reduce congestion, encourage economic development, and promote choice and technology innovation. 

What is the Active Transportation Fund?

Launched in 2021 as part of Canada’s first National Active Transportation Strategy, the Active Transportation Fund supports the expansion and enhancement of active transportation infrastructure nationwide. The most recent funding round offers up to $500 million for capital projects that encourage modal shift away from private vehicles and toward human-powered transportation.

The fund prioritizes projects that:

• Increase the use of active transportation relative to car travel
• Support first and last kilometer connections to existing and planned transit infrastructure
• Improve affordability by providing cheaper travel alternatives to vehicular travel
• Mitigate climate change and reduce road congestion
• Improve active transportation options for Indigenous peoples and equity-deserving groups

You can learn more about the Active Transportation Fund here. 

Funding Shared Micromobility Through the ATF

Here’s the breakthrough news for the shared micromobility community: rolling stock such as bikes and scooters are now eligible for ATF funding.

In the first round of the ATF, despite the documented impact of bikeshare and scootershare systems on mode shift and first/last mile transit connections, “non-fixed, removable assets, such as bikes for bikeshare systems” were explicitly excluded from funding. Only fixed assets like docking stations were technically eligible.

NABSA and our members mobilized in response, and our advocacy made a difference: the language around ineligibility has now changed to exclude only non-fixed assets that are “not essential for the operation of the project.”

Since rolling stock like shared bikes and scooters are essential to the operation of bikeshare and scootershare systems, these assets are now eligible for funding under the ATF.

The Bigger Picture

The Active Transportation Fund has invested millions in creating safer streets for all Canadians, from the Yukon to Montreal, but despite all the successes, the future of the Fund remains unclear. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne released their budget in November of 2025, and introduced significant changes to federal infrastructure funding. The budget proposes reallocating a portion of uncommitted funds from the Canada Public Transit Fund to create a new Build Communities Strong Fund, a $51 billion initiative to be distributed over ten years through Provincial/Territorial, Direct Delivery, and Community streams.

Federal funding for active transportation has been housed under the Public Transit Fund, so there are several critical questions that remain unanswered related to how this new initiative will impact funding for shared micromobility. We expect more clarity on the future of the Active Transportation Fund in early 2026, and you can read NABSA’s latest update on the ATF here.  

NABSA will be sharing updates on this and other issues impacting shared micromobility in Canada, but to get even more involved, members can join NABSA’s Canadian Policy Committee by emailing shannon@nabsa.net.