Frequent, consistent bus routes necessary

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This article was published 21/09/2020 (986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many West Broadway residents rely on Winnipeg Transit, which is why neighbourhood residents should pay close attention to current transit plans and funding from the city.

As a mature community just outside the downtown, West Broadway is served by many bus routes. Bus routes 11 and  29 provide nearby and fairly frequent service for workers heading downtown. The route 10 bus goes all through Wolseley and West Broadway to St. Boniface, stopping along notable local business and hot spots.

Given this relatively good transit access, it is unsurprising that a greater share of this neighbourhood rides the bus compared to Winnipeg overall. More than 32 per cent of West Broadway residents commute to work by bus, double the rate for the city as a whole. Many neighbourhoods, especially outside peak times, have patchier and less frequent bus service.

In 2017, an analysis by David Wyatt, a member of the transit advocacy group Functional Transit Winnipeg, found that no route consistently provided 15-minute service throughout the day during summer.

This is an issue. As FTW notes, frequency is important because it makes it easier to use transit. This is especially so in cases that involve multiple transfers to get to various places. Riders can, to a degree, plan their days around bus times to get to and from work. This becomes cumbersome when you add trips to the grocer, hairdresser, family, or any of the many other places we need to go. Frequent service makes it easier to plan, as you know a bus is coming to your stop every 15 minutes.

Winnipeg Transit agrees that frequent service is important. A proposed network redesign is included in Transit’s Master Plan. This involves a primary network of three routes with five-to-10 minute frequencies, 13 routes with 10-to-15 minute frequencies, and six routes with 10-to-20 minute frequencies. There will be a feeder network with connector routes (running on 10-to-15 minute frequencies) and community routes (30-to-60 minute frequencies) as well. FTW is calling for funding so all 22 routes in the primary network have 10-minute frequencies.

Notable for West Broadway, the current route 10 is excluded from the current draft of the proposed network design. A route that following a similar path through much of Wolseley Avenue and Westminster Ave is not included.

People interested in engaging with Transit Master Plan can email transitmasterplan@winnipeg.ca  

Dylon Martin is a community correspondent for West Broadway.

Dylon Martin
West Broadway community correspondent

Dylon Martin is a community correspondent for West Broadway.

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