Major overhaul of Winnipeg Transit routes in 2025 a 'huge' but needed change: transit advocate

Major changes to the city's transit route system next year were up for discussion at city hall on Tuesday, and while some are in favour of the overhaul, not everyone is on board.

The Winnipeg Transitmaster plan'srecommendedprimary transit networkwould have buses operate high frequency routes along major roads, while feeder routes would run along smaller streets and connect with the primary lineswhere riders can transfer.

Released in 2021,themaster planlays out a 25-year vision that aims to nearly triple the number of households living within walking distance of a frequent bus route meaning a bus arriving every 10 minutes during rush hour and 15 minutes the rest of the day to 58 per cent from the current 21 per cent.

The changes would be implemented on June 29, 2025, when ridership is lower, according to Winnipeg Transit.

"This is all because we want to deliver better transit service," Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of the public works committee, told reporters at city hall on Tuesday. "We want to have higher frequency. We want to have more dependable service."

The first phase of the plan still needs to clear the executive policy committee and city council. If that happens, Lukes says, the city will try the new routes for a year before making any changes.

"Sometimes you have to make the decision: bite the bullet, do the routes, deal with the feedback and fix it if it needs to be refined," she said. "Nothing we implement ever will be perfect."

The No. 10 bus route which runs through Wolseley, into downtown and then St. Boniface will be eliminated under the new plan. Instead, No. 28 would run down Arlington, onto Wolseley Avenue and run across the Maryland bridge.

That change would mean Wolseley resident Kathryn Martin would have to walk 20 minutes to catch the bus, she told the committee.

"So I'm supposed to in -40 [C] walk to Portage Avenue to catch a buson the corner of Portage and Arlington, because that's the only stop that has the faster buses and has a shelter?" Martin said. "I don't know how that is even a conceivable idea in winter."

Martin says that would be even harder for people with reduced mobility, adding the city didn't do enough consultations.

'Exactly what needs to be done'

Brian Pincott, a spokesperson for the board of Functional Transit Winnipeg, says he doesn't share the same concerns about the cancellation of the No. 10 bus.

"This is an integrated, linked network, and the moment you start whittling away at any one of those links, the whole thing could fall apart or not function very well," he said Tuesday.

"I think what Winnipeg Transit is presenting, which is essentially taking the system that we have right now and blowing it up and starting over again, is exactly what needs to be done."

However, Pincott said,the plan is a "huge" change that Winnipeggers will need to get used to.

"The bus stop is not going to be where it used to be, and the bus route is not going to be the same one that [you're] used to."

Detailed schedules will be shared in April 2025, Winnipeg Transit says. The proposed route changes will not cost the city more, as the new network will use the same number of service hours as the existing system.

However, Lukes says, the city needs to hire more bus drivers amid an ongoing shortage.

She called Tuesday's discussion transit route overhaul a "finale" of many years of consultation.