Residents from around the rural southeast are being encouraged to fill out online surveys to help inform a study being carried out for the SE Manitoba Transportation Initiative (SEMTI).

The goal of the initiative is to investigate strategies for delivering shared public transit options to regions east of the Red River and south of the TransCanada Highway down to the U.S. border.

According to SEMTI, they have a particular mandate: “Having a focused regional transit strategy in place will ignite connections for residents of all ages and in particular the area’s vulnerable populations in southeast Manitoba. Public transportation isn’t only for people living in cities. It’s a service deserving of all Manitobans, both rural and urban.”

Residents can find the initial survey online on the RM of Piney or RM of Ritchot websites right now (see links below).

The first of the series of surveys looks for ridership data: where do people in the rural southeast need or want to go and do how they currently get to those places?

The SEMTI began in 2021 as a collaboration between the RM of Piney and Eco-West Canada, a not-for-profit Winnipeg-based organization whose objective is to promote sustainable economic development in rural communities through green economy infrastructure.

Supporting partners of the initiative include TONS (Transportation Options Network for Seniors) and the University of Manitoba.

Last fall, key organizers invited leaders from 17 municipalities and First Nation communities to participate in an opening round table session in Steinbach. The RM of Ritchot and 12 other municipalities and communities were represented at that meeting.

As shared at the gathering, a few of the primary drivers behind the initiative include a concern for the seniors who face social isolation due to lack of transportation and who, eventually, have to move away from their home community in order to be closer to needed services.

But it’s also about making rural communities more attractive to immigrants, promoting local tourism, and creating a more environmentally sound solution to the prolific use of fossil fuels in the southeast.

Niverville’s town council hasn’t joined the SEMTI collaborative.

Mayor Myron Dyck says this is not the first such study to address rural transportation concerns. The Winnipeg Metro Region (WMR) performed a similar study within the approximate dozen municipalities that surround Winnipeg’s perimeter in 2016.

That study assessed the feasibility of alternate modes of regional transportation that aren’t single-occupant vehicles.

“At the time we were looking at [the feasibility of creating] a loop from Niverville to St. Adolphe to the U of M and St. Vital Centre and it would come back through Île-des-Chênes,” says Mayor Dyck.

All of the study findings were used to inform policy for Plan 20-50, a 30-year regional growth plan for the WMR.

In the meantime, Dyck says other conversations around the Niverville council table in recent years have taken place regarding how the town can be proactively involved in a community-based initiative.

“Basically, we said we’d leave it to private business for now, [like] taxis and other shuttles, because the cost to put in the infrastructure right now, among Niverville’s other priorities, was just too great,” Dyck says.

Ryan Faucher, economic development officer for Ritchot, sees a potential benefit to investing in the SEMTI study.

“With our growing populations in the southeast, it’s important to understand the transportation needs of our residents,” says Faucher. “This is an opportunity to look forward and design a solution to increase transportation options in the region.”

At the same time, he adds, any future public transit initiatives coming through the WMR will be no less important.

“With the RM’s proximity to Winnipeg, and that being the primary destination for residents for work, shopping, medical and events, it’s important that WMR includes us in their plans,” he says. “Any regional solutions need to integrate into the long-term plans of the city.”

Regardless of community representation on the SEMTI board, residents from all over the southeast are welcome and encouraged to fill out the survey.