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The week before Christmas in a newsroom is always a time with nothing in common with Clement Clarke Moore’s iconic Yuletide poem.
No stockings are hung with care. And every creature on duty is stirring and worrying about deadlines and how to fill the pages and pixels in the week that follows, when the news machine tends to move into holiday mode.
While no visions of sugarplums are dancing in our heads, there is a special project coming together that I want to give you a sneak peek at tonight.
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Over the past year, public transit has made no shortage of headlines in our city.
There’s been too much violence on our buses and too many buses running late or cancelled.
There have been too few drivers and too little political will to have Winnipeg’s public transit system get up to speed with those in other cities.
All the while, there’s the ticking clock of climate change counting down missed opportunity after missed opportunity to lower carbon emissions.
With that in mind, we have spent the past two months watching the wheels on the bus go round and round — and also riding transit at all hours.
As part of an upcoming series on public transportation, the Free Press joined Mayor Scott Gillingham for his morning commute on the no. 11. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)
We’ve been taking stock of what riders experience while on board, and their hope and frustration as packed buses speed past passengers waiting patiently at the stops.
We’ve spent time in bus shelters that all too often serve as a refuge for the homeless. We’ve visited the maintenance garage to take stock of the fleet and to check out the lost-and-found.
We shared a ride on the bus that took Mayor Scott Gillingham to work and we polled Winnipeggers on what they want from public transit.
The series we are calling In Transit documents the good, the bad, the ugly of our beleaguered bus system. At the same time, we hope the project will provide you with a better understanding of the challenges and the opportunities facing public transit.
The series begins on Boxing Day, with a new chapter running each day through to the first week of January.
There aren’t many newsrooms in this country with the capacity and the capability to take on a project of this size. And since readers like you power our newsroom, it’s only fitting we deliver a holiday reading package worth your time and dime.
(Side note that risks dating myself: As a kid growing up in St. James, I always made sure I carried a dime for the fare in case I needed to ride the bus.)
Next week’s newsletter will move to Friday, Dec. 29 so I can deliver my traditional New Year’s message to readers.
In the meantime, to those celebrating Christmas, may it be a day filled with much comfort and joy. And to all our readers, all the best during this holiday season!
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