ST. PAUL – There is a need to expand public transit in the St. Paul region, according to Town of St. Paul CAO Steven Jeffery.
The topic came up during the Town’s regular council meeting on Feb. 24. To help address that need, he said the STEP (St. Paul/Elk Point) Economic Development Alliance, on behalf of the County of St. Paul, Town of Elk Point, Town of St. Paul and Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay, will apply for the federal government’s Rural Transit Solutions Fund: Capital Project Stream.
“The Rural Transit Solutions Fund supports transit projects in rural and smaller communities, including smaller towns and villages within Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA), if the project targets rural needs and meets the objectives of the Fund,” reads information from the Government of Canada.
STEP may qualify for up to $250,000 in funding. The grant also requires 20 per cent to be matched by the partnering municipalities.
“It's basically an expansion of transit services that a community may or may not have, understanding that some communities would have quite large expectations and service delivery for transit,” said Jeffery.
According to Jeffery, the grant will help replace or procure additional municipally owned handy buses.
“[The grant] would have the ability to cover the cost of a new Action Bus, which we currently have two,” he said, adding one of the buses is getting old.
Mayor Maureen Miller, who attended the council meeting virtually, made a motion to approve a grant application be made on behalf of the STEP municipalities. The motion was carried.
She said addressing public transit in rural areas has been a priority for the last couple of years.
“It really is a struggle for rural communities to keep people moving,” she said, and the grant, if approved, would help alleviate the challenges some people face with rural transit.
