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Group wants public transit to be election issue in Steinbach, while Winkler aims to extend on-demand pilot https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/steinbach-winkler-on-demand-transit-...
A coalition of over 20 Steinbach-area service providers has been trying for over three years to convince council in the southeastern Manitoba city to give public transit a chance.
The South East Equity Coalition has built a business plan and offered to run a transit service in Steinbachhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/steinbach-transit-system-9.7067253, but was told by mayor and council they need to see a viable plan before putting the idea into gear.
So the coalition took the trip to Winkler on July 14, where the city says a pilot on-demand transit system is now being extended to 2028.
"It was amazing to actually see our dream, our vision for what could be in Steinbach, in reality in Winkler," said Gay Boese, the chair of the South East Equity Coalition.
She hopes transit will be top of mind for voters during this October's municipal election.
Boese said Steinbach's mayor and council were invited, but only Steinbach council candidates Mitesh Kumar and Greg Carlos were able to come along for the ride.
Kumar, who grew up in India and moved to Steinbach 10 years ago, said he was surprised to find there was no public transit in Steinbach — Manitoba's third-largest city, with a population now estimated at around 22,000https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710015501. According to the most recent census data, a quarter of people in Steinbach https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Steinbach&DGUIDlist=2021A00054602044&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&HEADERlist=0 are first-generation Canadians.
"We have specific stories about immigrants who have come to Steinbach with the job in hand, assuming that a city this size would have public transit," said Boese.
"When they got here, there was no public transit. They could not get to their job consistently, and they lost their job."
Steinbach is one of 14 communities in Canada that participates in the federal rural community immigration pilothttps://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/rural-franco-pilots/rural-immigration.html, which offers permanent residence to skilled workers in rural and remote communities. There are 42 employershttps://steinbachedc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/RCIP-Designated-Employers.pdf in the region using the program, according to the Southeast Manitoba Economic Development Corporation.
Even the service providers that make up the equity coalition — providers that work with seniors, people with intellectual and physical disabilities, low-income residents and new Canadians, among others — have had trouble keeping some new employees who did not have access to their own vehicles.
"You would be surprised to know how many people are economically marginalized in our community," said Valerie Hiebert, a member of the coalition's transit working group.
Those are people "who can't get to medical appointments efficiently, or to the groceries, or to a job, who need affordable transit," she said.
Winkler transit on demand
Meanwhile, the City of Winkler, about 100 kilometres southwest of Steinbach, has been running a transit pilot project with an on-demand van since November 2024.
The project "has been successful beyond expectation," said Mayor Henry Siemens, with the city recording an average of 900 trips per month in 2025https://winkler2019.municipalwebsites.ca/ckfinder/connector?command=Proxy&lang=en&type=Files¤tFolder=%2F&hash=c245c263ce0eced480effe66bbede6b4d46c15ae&fileName=City%20of%20Winkler%20Public%20Transportation%20Pilot%20Project-%202025%20Public%20Release.pdf.
That's why he and Winkler city council voted earlier this month to seek federal funding to buy mini buses.
"I don't know what the future looks like of it, but I suspect in some manner or fashion, Winkler is now in the business of transit," said Siemens.
[People stand in front of transit van.] The South East Equity Coalition brought along Steinbach council candidates Mitesh Kumar, left, and Greg Carlos, second from left, to test out Winkler's on-demand transit project. (Submitted by South East Equity Coalition)
Community service providers and voters in Winkler made it clear to him during the 2022 municipal elections that public transportation needed to be a priority, said Siemens.
"It creates options, and those options create freedom.… It's literally a quality of life issue," he said.
The system currently has one accessible eight-seater van, and rides can be ordered throughhttps://www.cityofwinkler.ca/p/winkler-on-demand-transit a website, and app or by phone. The cost is $5 per trip.
The route for the van is based on the location of the requested pickups and dropoffs.
Winkler estimates the total cost of its pilot transit system to be $365,000 per year. The city will need to find a way to pay for the extra year of the transit pilot project it approved, after federal funding runs out next spring.
Along with other communities on the cities caucus of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, Winkler is lobbying the provincehttps://amm.mb.ca/download/news_releases/2026.04.28-AMM-News-Release.pdf to return to 50-50 cost sharing for municipal transit, after that ended in 2017https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/transit-funding-poll-atu-1.4847068.
Siemens said the province has been receptive to a return to the funding formula but has made no guarantees.
The provincial government has started funding free student bus passes https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-transit-free-youth-fare-9.7237466 in Selkirk, and plans to do the same in Winkler, Winnipeg, Brandon and Flin Flon.
Siemens said he hopes the Steinbach visitors who tried Winkler's service saw that even in a small city, an on-demand public transit system can work.
"We recognized there was a need, but it was always so prohibitive to do it and so overwhelming to get there," he said.
"But when we were able to get there, it is something that's made a difference in our community."