Mayor of Steinbach says city is doing its due diligence on public transit

The Steinbach Equity Coalition is pushing for public transit in Steinbach, and Mayor Earl Funk says they are open to hearing what they have to say. 

As we reported on May 10th, the Steinbach Equity Coalition has distributed over 1,300 surveys in an effort to further understand how public transit might benefit the community. 

Funk says they met with the Steinbach Equity Coalition before the survey began. 

“We have sat down, but we don’t know what we don’t know at this point. So, they are doing the survey. We are meeting at the end of June to go over those survey results and I am looking forward to that. I want to see what those surveys said. At this point, Steinbach City Council has no definite plan as far as public transit goes." 

Funk says he and other members of council have also done some of their own digging behind the scenes, having met with representatives from other cities to discuss their public transit programs. 

“I have talked to other smaller communities in our area here, Selkirk, Brandon, Portage, and Winkler who is also doing a study as well. It is one of those things that seems to be on every urban centre’s mind, and every time we talk, there is one common theme, it is very expensive.” 

Not only is it very expensive, Funk says funding for public transit from other levels of government has been frozen for several years, putting even more pressure on municipalities.  

That said, Funk notes their discussions are ongoing and he plans to meet with both Winkler and Brandon to discuss public transit in greater depth soon. 

Considering the issues with cost, Funk says if Steinbach does move forward with public transit, they will most likely have to get creative rather than simply implementing a traditional bussing system. 

“If you look at Selkirk's model, their city council doesn’t do anything with transit, it is run by a private entity contracted through the city and it is a not-for-profit. I think, a lot of times, you look at these not-for-profits and they can give better service than the city can, they have got capacity for it plus they have volunteers that can help out. Definitely, creativity can be a factor.” 

Though cost is a daunting barrier, Funk says he believes it is important to do all of the necessary due diligence and explore all possibilities before writing something like public transit off. 

“We are at that entry-level, we are right at the beginning again, so it is hard to say where we will end up or what we will do but we are doing this carefully, we are doing this thoughtfully, and it has got to be fiscally responsible.” 

Funk notes, he is looking forward to further discussions with the Steinbach Equity Coalition.