West end hopes Transit signs make area more inviting

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This article was published 01/03/2023 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The West End Business Improvement Zone is seeking to encourage visitors to the neighbourhood to use public transit, with new digital signs of bus schedules installed at three area locations.

Executive director Joe Kornelson showed off one of the new data locations Tuesday outside the West End Cultural Centre (at Sherbrook Street and Ellice Avenue). The signs show live bus arrival times at stops nearby.

Kornelson said it is part of the business association’s work to make the neighbourhood more inviting and its economy more resilient.

“An economy lives and dies on its ability to move goods and people — by creating a physical reminder inside businesses communicating just how good transit service is in the West End, we’re now capable of being able to move more people because more people will jump at the opportunity to use… public transportation,” said Kornelson.

“As a Transit rider myself, I know that nothing is important than how often a bus arrives nearby.”

He added the dense, central Winnipeg neighbourhood of about 40,000 people and 900 businesses is one of the province’s greatest examples of urbanism: “Buses work perfectly in neighbourhoods like that.”

The cultural centre’s executive director, Jason Hooper, said the venue is committed to the environment, its carbon footprint and community.

“Transit is a big part of our vision for a supportive community, a community that brings people from place to place,” Hooper said, adding he thinks it will bring more people to the venue.

Kornelson said the highly visible schedules are largely targeted at people who don’t regularly ride public transit.

“Ideally, what we want to do, is we want to show people who don’t ride how convenient it can be,” he said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera