Latest news with #WinnipegTransit
Winnipeg Free Press
6 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Big changes for your bus trips
Opinion Well, fasten your seatbelts! Except you can't. There aren't seatbelts on Winnipeg Transit buses, but you know what we mean. Tomorrow starts the biggest set of changes at Winnipeg Transit in years: in reality, the first full-scale revamp of transit routes and services that any transit user is likely to be able to remember. The old route map has been torn up: there are hardly any surviving legacy routes, and it's a new era for Winnipeg bus travel. File photo New bus routes start Sunday. The process has been unrolling slowly for several years, with transit officials designing a new feeder system, seeking input on proposed route changes, followed by a final route plan and a redrafted Navigo app, transit signs for new routes being installed, and temporary signs listing the routes that will be vanishing tomorrow. The idea changes the entire structure of the system, moving to a main 'spine' Primary Transit Network and feeder system that promises sufficiently frequent buses that riders won't need to schedule their trips and connections that thread out into different parts of the community from those 'spine' routes. It's a lot different from the system that's in place now, but the goal is a familiar one — to get you from here to there as quickly and easily as possible. There will be problems. There will be hiccups. There will be angry passengers and frustrations. You can't massively overhaul a system that had just under 67 million riders in 2024 and not have issues arise. Heck, the system will be brand new for bus drivers, too, and there are something like 1,100 of them who will have to get up to speed all at once. (A quick note here: bus drivers didn't devise this new system, and if you're angry about the changes, you've got no right to take it out on them, even if they are the first and only face of Winnipeg Transit you see in the flesh.) But keep this in mind: most of the changes to Winnipeg's bus system in recent years have been incremental, building on a foundation that hasn't changed greatly while the needs of a changing demographic certainly have. The system, where it worked well, worked well in spite of itself, not because of carefully managed and planned change. This is different. So, now to the 'what's next?' part. No one sets out to deliberately make things worse: there will be winners and losers, commutes that take more time for some riders and, hopefully, more routes that take less. But the whole process has been undertaken in an attempt to improve transit for the largest number of riders possible. Weekday Evenings Today's must-read stories and a roundup of the day's headlines, delivered every evening. Winnipeg Transit is making quite a few claims about the benefits of the new system. 'You'll benefit from a route network that's more … Frequent: Buses arrive more often on frequent routes. Direct: Major routes are straighter, fewer take slow and winding paths. Connected: Service expands into new areas, and bus stops move to improve connections. Simplified: Routes are easier to figure out.' At least, that's what the website says, That does all remain to be seen. But the changes are the result of a careful process, one that has tried to deliver the most benefits possible for the most people. Do that hardest of things: if you're inconvenienced or confused at the beginning, try to give the new system the benefit of the doubt as kinks are worked out and you get used to how it can work for you. And be patient: at least at this point, Winnipeg Transit intends to keep this iteration of its bus routes and schedules in place for a full year before making significant changes. Enjoy the ride.
Winnipeg Free Press
16 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New transit system promises faster, more reliable service. It's now up to Winnipeggers to decide if they like the new ride
Forget Hamlet, today's great existential dilemma might be, 'Do I wait for the next bus or start walking?' At least according to behavioural economists, who use the wait-walk dilemma to explore trade-offs between waiting for better opportunities or taking immediate action amid uncertainty. Winnipeg Transit gives the dilemma, in its literal form, an especially cruel edge. Winter lasts for months. Buses in many areas are infrequent. Routes can be as winding and indirect as the streets themselves. Miss a transfer and — walk or wait — you could be stuck in Mars-level cold for the next 45 minutes. With choices like these, it's little wonder that more than 90 per cent of Winnipeggers say 'not to be' when it comes to commuting via bus, preferring to drive, bike or walk. Bjorn Radstrom, manager of Transit Service Development at the City of Winnipeg, is the lead behind a new experiment he hopes will nudge ambivalent commuters in the right direction: stand tall and wait for Winnipeg's public chariot. 'I'm an absolute transit nerd… (and) this is a once-in-a-lifetime project,' he says of the Primary Transit Network, the city's new system of bus 'spine' lines, which debuts Sunday. It was designed and planned in collaboration with Stantec, a global design and consulting firm. 'Not many cities have done a wholesale overhaul of their entire network like this. It's probably the biggest ever in Canada or in the United States, and it's one of the biggest ever in the world.' The new transit network's backbone is a series of high-frequency 'spine' routes, with buses every 10-15 minutes, along major corridors – including St Mary's, Grant, Portage, Donald, Osborne, Provencher, Pembina and Abinojii Mikanah. Commuters squinting at the display on approaching buses on these lines will spot an 'F' or 'FX' prefix, standing for frequent and frequent express. CITY OF WINNIPEG The system map for Winnipeg's new transit network launching June 29. The system map for Winnipeg's new transit network launching June 29. '(For a lot of routes), you won't have to even consult a schedule. You can just walk out because the bus is going to be coming,' Radstrom says. The F lines join the network's BLUE Line, Winnipeg's first rapid transit service (arriving every 4-10 minutes during peak hours) connecting the downtown to the University of Manitoba and St. Norbert through the bus-only Southwest Transitway corridor. There's also the new D (direct), R (regular) and E (Express) lines, which differ somewhat in terms of bus-stop spacing and service speed but, like F and FX, run along thoroughfares. As well as reducing wait times, the new network allows Winnipeg Transit to wring a de facto 'grid' out of the city's sometimes jumbled topology, a shape generally considered a marker of transit efficiency. All this means scrapping the buses' oddly cherished naming system, where most were labeled with a number that often stuck for decades. Numbers like the '68', '20' and '11' that for many evoke years of commuting and colourful, sometimes surreal, encounters with fellow riders. It also means tossing the city's complex branching patterns — express-only and peak-only services and certain downtown corridors, like Graham Avenue's transit mall. Those many overlapping routes and their multiple variants are now considered redundant. To ensure commuters don't have to walk too far before hopping on a main line, the new system has three categories of feeder routes — connector routes (two-digit numbers), community routes (three-digit numbers), and on-request service. These offer lower-frequency buses connecting neighbourhoods to the spine network; little streams flowing into a big river. We want to hear about your experiences with the new Winnipeg transit network. Share your thoughts online. Winnipeg's transit system is changing. Here's an online survival guide. All the same, it's easy to find commuters on Reddit and social media eulogizing the loss of a familiar, trusty line or venting about now having to walk longer or transfer more often. 'I really value complaints, and I want people to complain if it's not working for them. My only request is be specific and be constructive,' Radstrom says. '(But) with a change of this magnitude … there's no way around it. Things are going to get more challenging for some people.' It's also notable the new system requires more transfers on many routes — changes that may make some Winnipeggers bristle. That's natural when they associate transferring with standing in the cold and checking their phones for a connecting bus that never seems to come. The redesigned network aims to address that with more reliable, regular service. You may have to catch an extra transfer, but the buses should come more quickly. Radstrom — fond of quoting transit pundit and consultant Jarrett Walker's motto, 'Freedom is frequency' — estimates transit will significantly improve for about 60 per cent of current riders and remain functionally the same for 20 to 30 per cent. On the other hand, he predicts things will become more difficult for the remaining 10 to 20 per cent. For the city, it's a make-or-break moment. With years of stagnant ridership and revenue shortfalls, the status quo would no longer do. 'For those that may be concerned about the changes, I can appreciate that, but I think the general principle I would ask everyone to please remember is that we would not be making these changes to make things worse,' Mayor Scott Gillingham says. '(It's) the biggest modernization of Winnipeg transit service in 60 years.' RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Bjorn Radstrom, Manager of Transit Service Development, with one of the signs for the new transit system. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Bjorn Radstrom, Manager of Transit Service Development, with one of the signs for the new transit system. City modernization initiatives almost always have trade-offs and discontentment, and it's no different with public transit. Among transit wonks, one of the hotter debates is whether cities are better off with the hub-and-spoke model Winnipeg is ditching, or the spine-and-feeder approach behind the new system. The hub-and-spoke system is a radial one. It gets its name from its wheel-like shape: a central hub — typically downtown — with spokes stretching outward. Downtown has been the heart of Winnipeg's transit system since 1891, when electric streetcars began running along River Avenue, radiating in and out from the city's core. The story of Winnipeg's modern transit system begins about a half century ago. FREE PRESS FILES TThe era of the streetcar as Winnipeg's chief means of mass transportation ended in 1955. The era of the streetcar as Winnipeg's chief means of mass transportation ended in 1955. In 1955, the city scrapped its streetcars – marked by a symbolic 'funeral' with hundreds gathering at Portage and Main to watch a ceremonial streetcar parade and to flatten coins on the rails one last time. Over the next 15 years, Winnipeg's transit switched gears, as rubber-tired trolleys — still powered by overhead wires — gradually gave way to diesel buses. In 1963, the city launched the Winnipeg Area Transportation Study. It reflected the post-war modernist ethos — promoting radial expressways, geared towards drivers in their big Meteors, Impalas and Fairlines. It also recommended that the system be radial and downtown-centric. After all, the country was enjoying its post-war boom. The suburbs were young and multiplying, the middle-class now had cars and commercial life was centred around Portage and Main. A gloom had yet to envelope the downtown. There was still hope it might serve as a civic hub for residents of new suburbs like St. Vital and Tuxedo, with a slew of downtown cultural attractions like Centennial Concert Hall (built 1967) and the Manitoba Theatre Centre (1970) all soon on the way. In the 1970s, the city went all-in with diesel, rolling out Winnipeg's classic buses, like the 66, the 75 and the 11 – funnelling riders to and from the downtown. 'The (old) network doesn't work because it's built for the city of the 1950s, maybe 1960s, when everybody's commuting into downtown in the morning, out of downtown in the afternoon,' Radstrom says. 'But it didn't serve people for all the other trips they want to do, for work, first of all, but also just for daily life — if they want to go shopping, visit their friends, all that kind of stuff.' It's rare to see a city's transit switch suddenly from a hub-and-spoke to a spine-and-feeder model. In this shift, Winnipeg joins cities like Madison, Wis. — which launched a new grid-like transit system in 2023 — and Dublin, Ireland, where similar changes began to take root in 2021. Winnipeg's shift, while reflecting an ongoing downtown malaise, also evokes broader debates about how cities should grow. Urbanists tend to champion grid-like systems for transit and streets, viewing them as a more rational and efficient way to guide people and vehicles. This makes spine-and-feeder inherently attractive. However, large-scale efforts to reform transit with watchwords like 'rationality' and 'efficiency' are often criticized as too top-down. Conservatives and grassroots progressives alike share these concerns, wary of centralized overhauls that disrupt daily routines with new abstract frameworks — especially if they're rolled out without public input. Others argue this view underestimates our ability to plan effective transit and that even large-scale systems like spine-and-feeder models can promote a different kind of decentralization. These models push back on the downtown-centrism of planning and reflect that over time cities tend to see jobs, schools and shopping services dispersed across neighbourhoods. They can do this by enabling transit users to travel across town rather than always through the core. When done well, spine-and-feeder systems promote transit frequency and directness – and, as many argue, help knit a city's diverse neighbourhoods more closely together. While major city projects still evoke a technocratic image, today's planners are expected to engage in deeper, more inclusive public consultation than in the past. 'The new routes are built on extensive consultation with transit users and a deep analysis of anonymous data from cellphones, really looking at where people are coming from and going to,' Gillingham says. 'What this is ultimately about is the people of Winnipeg and customer service to Winnipeg,' The mayor is referring to public consultation going back to 2018, unfolding over three phases through late 2020. It included surveys, open houses, pop-up events, workshops and virtual sessions. Starting in 2019, the city partnered with Stantec on public consultancy and released several summaries highlighting residents' calls for more frequent service, better cross-town connections, and shorter walks to stops. These reports also detailed how public feedback shaped the new system's planning. 'If we heard from people that the current network mostly works, but it needs a few tweaks and changes and things like that, we would be willing to go in that direction,' Radstrom says. 'But if we heard from everybody that, no, it absolutely doesn't meet the needs of people today and where they want to travel, how they want to travel — we were going to do something completely different.' The city also used anonymous cellphone location data to map travel patterns — showing, among other things, that many trips bypassed downtown. Radstrom says this gave planners added confidence to push ahead with a bold redesign. Winnipeg Transit also says they plan to gather data for the next year, including by collecting feedback from users through 311, before making any significant changes to the new system. And gathering this data, to continue improving the system, means getting more butts on bus seats. 'I would encourage all Winnipeggers this summer to get on a transit bus if you haven't been on one for years – and just enjoy the new transit experience,' Gillingham says. Though some worry about the scope of change, others worry they're not dramatic enough. 'To get people to use transit, generally transit service has to be comparable to car use,' says Orly Linovski, Associate Professor at the Department of City Planning at the University of Manitoba. 'Transit nerds (take buses) because we love transit, but even with me, if it's going to take an hour and 20 minutes instead of seven or 15 minutes – that's a big ask.' Linovski points out that Winnipeg's relatively low traffic congestion makes driving easy and convenient for most vehicle owners, giving little incentive to switch to public transit. At the same time, it's not surprising that political leaders hesitate to explore policies discouraging car use — and unleash a commuter rage fiercer than a Winnipeg deep freeze. The more popular option for commuters is to make busing more inherently appealing through upgrades and smart reforms. It remains to be seen how commuters will respond to the new network in the long term and the extent to which it will shorten average trip lengths, though Radstrom predicts significant improvements for more than half of riders. And there are other significant upgrades on the horizon for Winnipeg Transit, thanks to significant capital investments coming from all levels of government. This includes a rapid transit corridor design for downtown, rolling out 90 zero-emission buses, installing accessible bus stop platforms and implementing 'intelligent transportation systems', which are supposed to make transit smarter and faster through GPS, sensors, wireless networks and real-time data analytics. For Linovski a key factor is still missing. 'The evidence is pretty clear that the way to increase ridership is to increase service vehicle hours and increase them substantially,' she says, noting the total number of hours buses are in service remains unchanged with the new system. Substantially boosting service hours, however, would increase costs for fuel, maintenance, drivers, administration and other expenses, further straining Winnipeg Transit's operational budget, which is already subsidized at record numbers by the city. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Bjorn Radstrom with one of the new maps that will be given out to riders next week. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Bjorn Radstrom with one of the new maps that will be given out to riders next week. Despite those constraints on the new system, few people are arguing that the old one was working well enough as it was. With only one in 10 Winnipeggers choosing bus as their primary mode of commuting – and public consultations showing a strong demand for reforms – this isn't surprising. As Linovski emphasizes, the impact of the upgrades on ridership, users' experiences and transit's overall efficiency deserves close study, with challenges inevitable. For Winnipeggers, it may initially feel like the new system walks before it runs. But after decades of unreliable and underused transit — the city couldn't wait any longer. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CTV News
17 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Winnipeg's new transit network set to launch this weekend
A major overhaul of Winnipeg's transit network is set to begin this weekend. On Sunday, Winnipeg Transit is launching its new primary network and feeder routes. The goal of the overhaul is to improve efficiency and reliability by running buses on primary routes that are considered simpler and straighter. At peak times, buses will run as often as every five to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the feeder route system, which connects to the primary network, is designed to reach community and connector routes to avoid congested areas. Ahead of Sunday, the city is reminding riders that bus stops will change, with some being added, removed or shifted to new locations. More information on the new transit network, including schedules, stops and routes, is available online.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg's transit system is changing. Here's your survival guide.
Winnipeg Transit's bus network is undergoing a complete transformation on June 29. The network is switching from a hub-and-spoke system — where buses travel between downtown and outlying neighbourhoods — to using a spine-and-feeder concept, where frequently serviced spines along major corridors are supported by a network of feeder routes. As virtually every route in the city is set to change, the Free Press has created a survival guide to help you navigate the new system. City officials say the spine-and-feeder concept will allow buses to arrive more frequently, travel more directly and provide an overall more reliable Transit service, in part because most feeder buses won't have to navigate downtown traffic. Under the new network, a bus is expected to arrive every five to 15 minutes along each of the most frequent routes during peak periods, while connector route buses would come every 15 to 30 minutes. More transfers will be required and community routes will end earlier in the evening. A close-up of the downtown section of the new transit system map. Winnipeg Transit launches its new routes on Sunday, June 29. That day, about seven or eight 'travel trainers' and 30 other Transit staff will be posted along main routes and stops to help travellers find their way. It is possible one of the bus stops you usually use has been moved, replaced or removed. Under the new system, the total number of bus stops will be reduced to 4,000 from 5,200. Over the last few weeks, signage has appeared showing new route information at existing stops, and providing information on stops that are being removed or moved. Every bus stop sign in the city has changed, and the number and location of stops has also changed. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press) Bus riders can plan routes they'll need to take in the new network using Transit's trip-planning website, Navigo. Navigo lets you choose your starting point, your destination, and the time you wish to leave or arrive by. The site will generate a selection travel plans. If you're reading this before June 29, select 'Preview this trip in the new Primary Transit Network' to switch to the new system map. Using Navigo, riders can enter their starting point, destination and time of arrival/departure and review possible routes. The Navigo website that can help you locate stops and their respective schedules and specific routes. Winnipeg Transit's website also offers: Navigo also allows users to search for stops and routes near an address or landmark. Riders can also use the Winnipeg Transit app or the Transit app. Winnipeg Transit has partnered with the Transit app for one year. The Transit app uses a different algorithm for planning trips and may suggest different routes than Navigo. The app allows users to plan an immediate or future trip using Navigo, find stops and schedules, explore routes and 'go live' using the On the Go feature to follow the route you are riding on. Printed route maps are also available at Transit customer service centres. Riders can also call 311 for assistance. System maps are available online and at Winnipeg Transit customer service centres. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press) If want to report an issue or request an enhancement to a bus stop, you can complete this form on the City of Winnipeg's website.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Massive Winnipeg Transit network overhaul takes effect Sunday
Winnipeg Transit will undergo what it says is the most significant single-day transformation in its history on Sunday, when it launches a new bus network that changes just about every route in the city. "Pretty much nothing is going to remain the same after Sunday," said Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit's manager of service development. The new network replaces Winnipeg's existing "hub-and-spoke" system — with buses often following meandering routes between outlying neighbourhoods and the downtown — with a more grid-like "spine-and-feeder" model, featuring high-frequency routes along major roads, connected to smaller routes running through residential areas. With straighter routes, fewer stops and routes that avoid travelling through congested downtown traffic, Winnipeg Transit officials say the new network will be more reliable and efficient. "The network we have right now was really designed for the city that we had in the '50s or maybe the '60s, where everybody was trying to get into downtown in the morning to go to work, and out of downtown in the afternoon. But the city's really changed and everybody's travel patterns have changed," Radstrom told CBC. The new network reflects modern travel needs like shopping and more cross-town trips, he said. WATCH | A Winnipeg Transit video outlines the new system: The network will have four types of transit lines: rapid transit, frequent express, frequent and direct. Wait times between buses on the new "frequent" and "frequent express" lines are expected to be 15 minutes or less during peak times, Transit says. However, the network relies on passengers transferring buses more often and walking longer distances to get to stops. Winnipeg Transit posted the new schedules online May 1, adding a feature to its website that allows riders to plan their trips using the new routes. Radstrom encourages users to try different tools, like Navigo, the Winnipeg Transit app, and Google Maps to plan their routes. Fewer bus stops As part of its redesign, transit removed about 1,700 of the 5,200 stops in the city and installed about 460 new ones, for a total of about 4,000 bus stops in the new system. While that may mean longer walks for some people to get to their stops, Radstrom says the new network will run more efficiently and reliably. "Having all those extra stops really slows things down," he said. To help people navigate the new system, Winnipeg Transit has sent "travel trainers," recognizable by their blue vests, to stops around the city. They will be out again next week along major routes. Bus riders in southwest neighbourhoods like Waverley West will already be familiar with the new model. Buses in that area have followed the spine-and-feeder system since the southwest rapid transit corridor was completed in 2020. Waverley West councillor and public works committee chair Janice Lukes said she's confident riders will see improvements. "In the big picture, it's going to be great, for sure," she said. But she acknowledged "there'll be some hiccups and some bumps, and there'll be things that will need adjustments." "People need to report their issue to 311 and it will be addressed," said Lukes. The head of the union that represents Winnipeg Transit operators encouraged riders to be patient, as the drivers are also learning the new routes. "We're both excited for this to finally be rolled out and a little nervous [about] the impact," said Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505. Kyle Owens, president of the advocacy group Functional Transit Winnipeg, said the new network's frequent service makes it a "game-changer," but said it could take weeks or months for riders to adjust and begin to realize its benefits. "It takes time to rebuild a new relationship with that new system," said Owens, pointing out that many Winnipeggers have been frustrated by unreliable transit service in the past. Radstrom says the city considered a phased approach to the changes, but decided it was not possible due to how interconnected the network is. "In the end, it was all or nothing," he said.
