Transit Plus winter service begins Friday

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This article was published 29/10/2020 (1948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg is set to start winter service for Transit Plus on Friday, after winter-like weather made the streets slick and travel treacherous for some riders this week.

Multiple riders expressed concern because the service hadn’t resumed, since council recently changed its start date.

Sarah Gunner has already slipped and fell once while getting out of a standard bus on her way to work. While she wasn’t hurt, snow and ice have made walking with elbow crutches much more difficult, she said.

“Walking with ice underneath and snow on top is like trying to ski without the poles and that’s just not safe for me. I have actually had to take a taxi this week already a few times because of the accumulation of snow,” said Gunner.

The Winnipeg woman, who has cerebral palsy, is one of about 250 people who are registered for winter-only accessible Transit Plus service, which used to apply from Oct. 15 to April 15 each season.

City council approved a change in January, however, which lets Transit Plus start winter season eligibility as late as Dec. 15, depending on a manager’s assessment of weather conditions.

Winter-only users are deemed to have mobility challenges specifically linked to moving over ice and snow.

The change wasn’t widely communicated, Gunner said, so she didn’t learn about it until she called for service this month and is urging the city to reverse it permanently.

“I don’t want to get hurt because then I’m out of work… It puts a damper on my job and my independence,” said Gunner.

Ryan Doyle, another winter-only Transit Plus client, said he’s concerned the new policy would create more days when winter conditions raise the risk of falling during a walk.

“Because of my cerebral palsy, I have to be careful when I do walk. If I do hit a bad spot, I could fall, I could break a leg,” said Doyle.

In a written statement, Winnipeg Transit spokeswoman Megan Benedictson noted the winter service timeline changed following a review of local snow accumulation. That review found October snow doesn’t tend to stick around more than three days in Winnipeg and significant snowfall hasn’t accumulated until mid-December in the city over the past decade.

While council approved the policy change in a public meeting on Jan. 30, Benedictson said a reminder to clients was provided by Oct. 14, in a recording that played while customers were on hold to book rides.

On Thursday, Winnipeg Transit confirmed the winter service would start Friday due to the accumulation of snow.

Patrick Stewart, a consultant for the Independent Living Resource Centre, urged city council to reverse the change, arguing nothing short of a guaranteed Oct. 15 start date will ensure the safety of Transit Plus winter clients.

“Why go through this fiasco every year, which given this year’s snowfall, has proven it was actually an eerily accurate start date on when this service (should) begin?” he asked.

Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface) said he would like to change the policy, though he didn’t commit to exact dates.

“I don’t feel it’s appropriate that seasonal transit users have to navigate the roads and sidewalks in the condition they are in,” said Allard, council’s public works chairperson. “I found it difficult to navigate our sidewalks (lately) and I have no issues with my mobility.”

A motion raised at Thursday’s council meeting aims to have city staff create a new policy with clear parameters on when ice, snow and other safety issues should trigger the start of winter-only service. The proposal was referred to the public works committee for a vote.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga