Transit accelerates drive for ‘full network transformation’

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This article was published 15/11/2023 (696 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Transit is speeding up plans to overhaul its route network and increase bus frequency for many riders, by adding a new primary network about one year earlier than expected.

City council had approved the new network as part of the 25-year Winnipeg Transit Master Plan in 2021, with plans to add it, along with connected “feeder” routes, in 2026.

Transit is now accelerating that launch target to the end of June 2025, expediting what would mark its largest service change.

“This is a full network transformation. We’re taking a current route network and creating a new one. It extends frequent transit to many more areas of the city, roughly doubling the number of people (who) will be in walking distance of frequent transit service,” said Kevin Sturgeon, a senior Winnipeg Transit planner.

Sturgeon said many routes will become more frequent, based on a tiered system. The top tiers will offer frequent service, meaning a bus will arrive at least every 10 minutes during rush hour and at least every 15 minutes throughout the rest of the day.

“In the primary transit network, people will often be able to show up without looking at a schedule in advance and a bus will come and pick them up with a short wait,” said Sturgeon.

He said that will make the new network more convenient and simpler to navigate, so it is expected to help increase Transit ridership.

The overall service network will use a “spine and feeder” concept, with direct “spines” routes along major corridors that are supported by a network of feeder routes throughout the city. While the feeder routes aren’t technically part of the primary network, they will begin operating at the same time.

This model of service is already in place along the Blue rapid transit line in southwest Winnipeg, though all other Transit routes will be replaced through the switch to the new network, said Sturgeon.

The network overhaul is considered a core element of the Transit master plan.

Coun. Janice Lukes said the expedited timeline is “exciting,” given council members have heard consistent demands from the public for more frequent bus service.

“This is what the public wants the most is (to get) higher frequency… Ultimately, once the change is implemented, the system will work better,” said Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee.

While a future report will ask elected officials to sign off on final route alignments and other details, Lukes noted the public works committee called on Transit to develop a plan to implement the changes as quickly as possible.

“This is what the public wants the most is (to get) higher frequency… Ultimately, once the change is implemented, the system will work better.”–Janice Lukes

Speeding up the new network will come at no extra cost to council, beyond existing budgets already approved for the plan, she noted.

However, a Transit report lists some potential challenges linked to the accelerated timeline, warning some infrastructure upgrades won’t be completed by the time the new service is launched. The report warns bus shelters, platform upgrades, active transportation connections and even some Transit loops may not be ready.

Sturgeon said a funding agreement between the city, feds and province is timed to begin covering infrastructure upgrades in 2025, which is a key reason why some elements may not be immediately in place.

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“We were faced with the dilemma of whether to wait for our network transition until the infrastructure… is in place. We heard very clearly from the community that they want the network as soon as possible,” he said.

Lukes said she expects the benefits to bus riders will make the wait for final additions worth it. “We just have to explain that we’re in a transition. People want more frequency, well we’re going to give them more frequency and the other aspects will come.”

Council’s public works committee is slated to discuss the accelerated plan Nov. 21.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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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.