Long-awaited Winnipeg Transit network overhaul goes live Sunday

Winnipeg’s bus network will undergo a massive one-day transformation on Sunday that alters virtually every route.

A transit advocate expects Winnipeggers will benefit from the changes overall, especially the fact many more routes will see buses arrive every 15 minutes or less.

“Winnipeg absolutely deserves and needs the service improvements that this offers…. We’re going to be able to go from one route to another with frequent service and that is a game-changer for reliability and consistency,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg.

The network will use a spine-and-feeder concept, where direct spines along major corridors are supported by a network of feeder routes.

Owens said some feeder routes have shorter operating hours than the main lines they connect to, which could prevent riders who return home in the late evening from transferring to the same route they used earlier in the day.

“Although the city is providing on-demand service to cover a lot of those gaps, that is an extra step that a lot of people may not have used before…. That has the potential to be very frustrating and confusing,” said Owens.

Two Winnipeg Transit riders the Free Press spoke with Tuesday expressed concerns about the route overhaul.

Winner Nnah, a recent graduate of Technical Vocational High School, believes the changes will take a while to get used to.

“I feel like everything was a bit too sudden,” said Nnah. “I have to check the new schedules and times they posted on the app and do a lot of planning on my phone, so it will definitely take time to learn.”

He said the lack of consistency with the revamped route scheduling will also cause him to walk close to 10 minutes some days.

“In the wintertime, that’s obviously not ideal,” he said.

Colleen Freund, a downtown employee, isn’t convinced the major route changes are needed.

“It’s not broken, so don’t fix it,” Freund said. “I’m not keen on this change.”

Freund, a daily bus user from Transcona, said Transit added more stops to her route, so it will take longer to get to work.

To call attention to the new network, the city posted schedules online May 1, so riders could start virtually planning trips.

Winnipeg Transit also provided question-and-answer sessions for bus drivers, met with community groups, distributed cards with QR codes linked to route information, took out ads and posted signs explaining the changes at every bus stop throughout the city, said Bjorn Radstrom, Transit’s manager of service development.

“Our biggest marketing push was actually changing every single bus stop sign in the city and that is what caught people’s attention. Whenever we put up a new sign, there was also a notice board underneath that explained the routes,” said Radstrom.

Riders will need to adjust their bus stops, as well, since the change will reduce the total number from 5,200 to 4,000, as the city amalgamates and repositions them, he said.

Radstrom said Transit considered enacting the overhaul in phases but feared that would have been more difficult for riders.

“The route network is just so intertwined from neighbourhood to neighbourhood… it would’ve been incredibly confusing for everybody,” he said.

The new network is designed to be more reliable and easier to navigate, while main routes should allow Winnipeggers to wait less time for their next bus to arrive, he said.

As the new routes begin Sunday, about seven or eight “travel trainers” and 30 other Transit staff will be posted along main routes and stops, he said.

“It’s a massive learning curve and people are going to need help, so we’ll be out there to answer questions,” said Radstrom.

He urged bus riders to plan out routes ahead through Winnipeg Transit’s website and app, noting people can also get printed route maps at Transit customer service centres or call 311 for help planning their routes.

The head of council’s public works committee said she expects Transit is about to become more convenient for many Winnipeggers.

“People are very concerned about the transfers but… you get on your feeder route to get you to your spine — the main line — and then it’s just minutes (to get the next bus),” said Coun. Janice Lukes.

Lukes (Waverley West) said extra 311 operators will work Sunday to help address any concerns.

“We can’t flip an entire network and expect perfection, but people need to remember the goal is to provide efficient, convenient transit service,” she said.

Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said bus drivers are generally ready for the new network and Winnipeg Transit has done “just about everything they can” to prepare the public.

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However, Scott asked riders to remember that the routes are new to drivers, too.

“We just ask for patience with the riding public. We’re growing with this new system the same as they are,” he said.

— With files from Massimo De Luca-Taronno

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.