Altona town council is taking steps to address the community’s public transportation needs by engaging the services of Eco-West Canada, a national non-profit organization based in Winnipeg.
Eco-West specializes in promoting sustainable economic development in rural municipalities. They will conduct a public transportation and fleet optimization study for Altona.
Mayor Harv Schroeder emphasized that public transportation has been a recurring topic in Altona.
“We’ve been talking about it for years. We want to know what that would look like,” he said. “Eco-West has been doing a large study on the east side of the Red River, so we invited them to sit down to see if we could also be a part of a study.”
This study will assess not only public transportation options but also the town’s fleet for its public works department and other municipal utilities.
The data collected will support the town’s efforts to secure funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for a potential public transportation project.
“We’re very interested in working with Eco-West because they have the funding models and connections to get something going,” Schroeder explained. “The perfect model would provide individuals without access to a vehicle with a way to get to things like events or appointments or go shopping.”
Community organizations will also play a role in shaping transportation solutions.
“We know there are people in the community who don’t have access to transportation. We’ve been talking to some of the organizations in town that need that,” the mayor noted. “We have a transportation group connecting with all the different organizations in town, such as C.A.R.E. and Blue Sky Opportunities, just to see what’s available, what might work, and what wouldn’t work. We want to find ways to streamline this.”
In addition to town council’s initiative, The Community Exchange (TCE) has also launched a program to assess local transportation needs.
“We’ve been having conversations with the town, exploring different ideas,” shared executive director Paul Peters. “Hopefully, we can connect with them to assess what the needs are. The Eco-West study is one part of this, and hopefully, we’ll work with the town as well.”
TCE has already taken action by using a donated vehicle to help residents with transportation challenges.
“We have access to a vehicle, so how might we use that to better understand the needs in our community? The town can then continue to explore the best ways to address some of the barriers to transportation,” Peters said. “From our perspective, we’ve been hearing about the need to get to medical appointments, legal consultations, Service Canada appointments, or even access to larger stores out of town. Our donated vehicle has given us the space to help somebody out. Maybe in the next while, we can find something a little more official.”
Peters acknowledged that their initiative is still in its early stages but sees it as an essential service for the community.
“It’s in a very exploratory phase, but definitely something that we as an organization see as a need for people who are coming to The Exchange, and a need in the community at large,” he said. “How do I get from point A to point B? How do you do that when you don’t have access to a vehicle, you’re new to the area, or finances are a struggle? Our hope is to be in good relationship with the town and find out what some of those needs are in our community.”
