Public transportation systems around the world have been rocked COVID-19, and the pandemic saw a major blow to ridership and revenues at Codiac Transpo, the municipal bus system in Greater Moncton. 

Public transportation advocates have criticized the Higgs government for walking away from federal public transit funding earlier in the pandemic, while the province has offered financial support to the privately-owned Maritime Bus service. Last week, the province announced it had allocated $400,000 to the private operator to help the company cover losses during the pandemic. 

That’s on top of $720,000 the company received last year to maintain Maritime Bus routes in northern New Brunswick. That money included economic recovery funds from the feds.

Ottawa is now allowing New Brunswick to use federal funds earmarked for public transportation to pay for roads and bridges. New Brunswick has more than $392 million in federal money still unspent under an infrastructure agreement signed four years ago, the Telegraph Journal reported last week. 

And according to the Canadian Urban Transit Association, the provincial government has only spent 1.4 per cent of $165 million available to New Brunswick to invest in public transit. 

Here in Sackville, transportation services for people without their own vehicle are mostly limited to some service by Maritime Bus and VIA Rail, taxi cabs, and a volunteer-driven charity called Rural Rides Tantramar. 

CHMA asked some local residents how they feel about local transportation options.

We also spoke to public transportation advocate Ted Bartlett of Transport Action Atlantic; Mike Cassidy, owner of Maritime Bus; and Greg Peter, an international student from India at Mount Allison University who is researching the public transit system.

Listen to the CHMA story below: