The Southeast Regional Transportation Initiative (SERTi) has been working with Pini Village Administration for the past two years focusing on transportation options.
Connie Gamble, a “self-appointed” Data Collection Ambassador, says SERTi is a joint venture led by Piney and Eco-West Canada RM.
“We ended up with 13 partners who have met over the last two years and talked about creating regional transportation.”
Gamble was recently invited by Brandon University student Hannah Mukhaharin to speak on a panel and discuss transportation needs in the Southeast.
“My role there was to support him, his paper and he made various suggestions about how we could move forward with rural transport. One of his key recommendations is to get the province involved, because right now there are many areas in rural Manitoba that don’t have any options.
“One of our main goals is to see if we can convene some sort of symposium or roundtable with rural and provincial stakeholders to talk more about regional transportation options.”
He said there was a mix of online and in-person participation with about 80 participants in total.
“There were a lot of nods. Everything seemed to resonate with what we were saying and what we were looking for.”
Gamble adds: “The problem is that rural people are really dependent on public transport, so if you don’t have your own car or can rely on friends and family, there’s very little way to get around. A little different in and around Steinbach. If I had to take a taxi from my location in southeastern Manitoba to Steinbach for an hour’s shopping, it would probably cost me $400 or $500. I wouldn’t say it’s economical or affordable.”
Buffalo Point Piney (BPP) Rent and Ride is part of another initiative aimed at creating an affordable and sustainable transit option.
“We realized that even though we have regional transit, we need another option, we still have a very large geographic area to cover with residents. So Piney and RM of Buffalo Point First Nation partnered up and they created the BPP Rent and Ride program.
He explains that BPP Rent and Ride is like a car share.
“There are two cars, two vans that allow residents of this district to rent and go wherever they need. And the main focus is trying to connect with the community and planning group trips, whether it’s locally, to Steinbach or Winnipeg, or wherever they need to go.”
Gamble says it’s a great place for a large group or community center to rent a car.
“They coordinate the trip wherever they want to go. They put several people in the van. We have one van for seven people and another van for 10 people. One van can also accommodate wheelchairs. You share the costs, but it’s up to the community center or the tenant whether they want to cover the costs, fundraise or subsidize.”
The program is just getting started, but he says additional funding will be needed to continue.
“The government has no funding support other than the MDTP, the mobility impaired vehicles program. And again, it’s really aimed at a very small select population. There is no support other than this program and right now we need a lot of education because people are used to shelling out a small amount of money for gas and we need to have an education campaign about that. it’s actually the cost of transportation because with BPP Rent and Ride it’s a non-profit organization, but we want it to be sustainable. So we’re really trying to cover costs and make sure it’s not just a short-term program.”
Going forward, he hopes to continue promoting and funding SERTi.
“The SERTi group usually met twice a year with various presentations and ideas, but we really need to look for more funding. Again, municipalities are not in business and do not have the resources to manage these services. So it’s a joint venture. We have to come up with options and move forward from there.”
With files from Adi Loewen