City considers upgrade to Transit’s decades-old radios

Winnipeg Transit drivers are pleased its decades-old radio system may soon be let off at the next stop.

In a motion coming to next week’s executive policy committee meeting, civic bureaucrats will ask for permission to add $4.6 million to an existing public safety communications system contract with Bell Mobility to replace all radios on its fleet of buses.

The existing $26.4-million budget, approved by council in 2024, was for a communication system to be used by the Winnipeg Police Service, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, and Winnipeg Transit supervisors for 12 years. The new proposal would add all buses to the contract.

A city report says the transit radios won’t affect the budget because money had been set aside to buy a new communication system, and a portion of it is covered by funding from the provincial and federal governments.

James Van Gerwen, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said he knows the drivers of the city’s 600 buses would be happy with the change.

“It’s a great system,” Van Gerwen said on Wednesday. “This is well needed — we’ve been pushing for this for years. The radios we have are over 30 years old and the system is so outdated that it is hard to get parts for it. This will give us better performance and more reliability.”

Van Gerwen said that over the decades the city — and transit routes — have expanded and it’s not uncommon for any of the buses driving at the edge of the city to fall out of radio range.

“Drivers sometimes have to roll up 30 feet to get a signal,” he said. “The more the city expands, the harder it is to get a frequency. And sometimes drivers have to use their own cellphones, which is not the solution.”

City spokesperson Pam McKenzie agreed the new system is needed.

“(The public safety communications service) would replace the existing outdated infrastructure with a modern system that is more reliable, secure, and provides better coverage throughout the city. This would improve communication between bus operators and the transit control centre.”

McKenzie said while police, fire and paramedics would be using the same secure network system, transit drivers would not be able to hear internal police and emergency calls.

She said with all three entities using the system, it would improve communication between the agencies.

If approved by the committee, the motion will go to city council for final approval.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca