On Tuesday morning, the Yukon’s member of Parliament, the territorial minister of Community Services and the mayor stepped onboard a city bus.

They were headed for the Canada Games Centre (CGC) to make an infrastructure announcement in which their ride featured prominently.

Two new Whitehorse city buses have been purchased with federal and territorial funding.

The buses have been on the road for several months already.

Rather than announcing new funding – which press conferences often focus on – the politicians spoke to local media at the CGC about the completion of this and six other infrastructure projects in Whitehorse.

“The purchase of these two buses will help ensure the city is equipped to offer residents (the) public transit services they need to fulfill their personal and career goals and meet their daily needs,” said Yukon MP Larry Bagnell.’

He offered comments on behalf of Amarjeet Sohi, the federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.

Ottawa put up $890,000 and the Yukon government contributed almost $300,000 for the new buses.

They are replacements, rather than additions to the 15-bus Whitehorse fleet.

Development in Whistle Bend means expanded bus service in the neighbourhood, and more pressure on city buses, said Community Services Minister John Streicker.

While the new buses haven’t translated into any service expansion since they’ve hit the road, the minister said they are relieving pressure on the transit system as a whole.

The city already extended its weekday evening service a few years back, Mayor Dan Curtis pointed out.

While buses don’t run on Sundays, extending service to fill that gap “is just not something that would be viable or possible,” he said, citing “miniscule” traffic.

The city’s forthcoming transit master plan will determine future service changes, Curtis noted.

“I know that we’re constantly looking to have more efficiencies and getting more services out there.”

Service to country residential areas was tried many years ago, but was withdrawn due to a lack of ridership.

NDP Community Services critic Kate White told the Star she trusts the bus purchase will meet transit needs the city has identified.

However, she wants to know more about the future of infrastructure in the territory.

“We’re making announcements about money that’s already been spent, but we’re not talking about what the future looks like,” White said.

Indeed, the agreement to provide nearly $900,000 in federal funding to the City of Whitehorse through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund was announced under the previous government in 2016.

Yukon Party MLA Scott Kent pointed this out in an interview with the Star Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s good to see those types of projects built on some of the work that we started carrying forward. We’re obviously happy to see the buses delivered here now,” Kent said.

But White said the government needs to address other pressing infrastructure issues instead of broadcasting past accomplishments.

Greyhound Canada is slated to end its passenger bus service in the territory in the near future, she pointed out. Tuesday’s announcement made no mention of this.

“What I’d like to know is ... ‘What do you see? Do you see connectivity? Do you see people being able to get between point A and point B in the territory?’”

Bagnell did make reference to a planned $2 billion in federal funding that will support infrastructure projects in rural and northern communities.

That money hasn’t started flowing yet, but “that could be things like connectivity, which is very important in the north,” he said.

Tuesday’s announcement also celebrated the completion of six projects financed through the federal Gas Tax Fund, with contributions ranging from $360,000 to almost $83,000. These are:

• a Porter Creek connector path from McIntyre Creek to Pine Street;

• the transition to LED lighting at the CGC;

• a transition to LED lighting at the Takhini Arena;

• a replacement entrance for the Valleyview reservoir;

• improvements to the Burns Road storm water system; and

• reconstruction of the Schwatka Lake plane/boat launch.