VICTORIA — The provincial government is spending $2.8 million to expand community shuttle bus services in remote and Indigenous areas of northern British Columbia.

A statement from the Transportation Ministry says the funding will be shared between 18 communities and organizations to bolster the program.

It says the government launched the long-haul intercity service in the north after Greyhound discontinued bus routes to remote areas in 2018.

The statement says the grants were awarded earlier this month by Northern Development Initiative Trust, a non-profit agency that received $7.9 million in federal-provincial funding last year for transportation services in northern B.C.

The Canadian Press