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This article was published 2/12/2017 (1025 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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City of Brandon officials are in for a bumpy ride to keep its buses rolling.

Brandon Transit must adapt to a $227,000 budget shortfall after the province decided earlier this year to cancel its long-standing 50-50 cost-sharing formula to fund transit programs.

The result is Brandon Transit enduring a second consecutive year where its provincial grant is frozen at 2016 levels. This is equivalent to $2,034,488, which covered half of Brandon Transit’s operating costs in 2016, said city manager Rod Sage.

In 2017, the city adjusted to its funding shortfall with a route restructuring, which eliminated underused routes.

Sage offered that transit would likely need to find efficiencies elsewhere.

"Maybe it is hours of operation? Maybe it is running service (less often) on stat holidays? Service on Sundays?" he said.

"If there’s an expectation that the city has to try and find a difference, then we have to ask those tough questions."

Officials with Brandon Transit will take their best shot at finding an answer when they hold an informal meeting with city council in the next week or two. They will evaluate recent changes to the route network and advise the city on how to handle the funding deficit.

Sage told city council last month that service reductions of some kind are needed. He explained the shortfall is the result of costs in maintenance, fuel and salaries increasing on an annual basis.

Less money from the province will hurt the city’s marginalized and most vulnerable, who may deal with heftier fares, said city Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser).

"We have to bear in mind that sometimes these (provincial) cost savings end up doing more harm than good," he said.

"Allowing low-income, marginalized folks to be mobile, accessing daycare, groceries, employment opportunities and the like, has a long-term positive effect on an economy, and this is an investment in that."

Winnipeg is also grappling with what to do with its funding shortfall for public transportation. Mayor Brian Bowman suggested it may mean the end of 59 routes, the layoff of 120 drivers and an extra 25-cent fare increase, should the Pallister government not increase funding.

As the City of Brandon is not as far along in its budgeting process, they were not prepared to predict Friday any possible solution to their transit woes.

The provincial government refuses to characterize its frozen contribution to Brandon Transit as a funding cut.

The province chose to give a single block of funding to the City of Brandon, said Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton, with no ties attached.

"They have a pool of money for operating, unconditional," he said. "They chose to fund transit to any level that they require, so that’s fair say, in our view, and in the municipalities’ view. We’re living out that commitment."

The NDP government of Gary Doer began picking up 50 per cent of the operating cost for transit a decade ago, after several years where the city instituted a tax hike to pay for the continued operation of city services, including Brandon Transit.

Sage was working in city government in the years before 50/50 funding for public transportation.

"It wasn’t a good time," he said.

"Thankfully, the federal and provincial government realized that in order for a country to be healthy, we need to make sure that we have public transportation, but then at the same time we have to find that balance," he said, acknowledging the province’s continued bid to save money.

The City of Brandon will table a draft budget for the upcoming year on Dec. 18.

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