City considering transit service extension

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This article was published 14/01/2019 (2440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The wheels on the bus could be travelling beyond the Perimeter Highway year-round in the future if a group of local stakeholders get their way.

Charleswood-Tuxedo councillor Kevin Klein raised the idea of extending the City’s transit routes to include regular service to the Bell MTS Iceplex, Red River Exhibition Park and Assiniboia Downs at a recent Assiniboia Community Committee meeting.

City bus service is currently only offered during the Red River Ex each June.

“This is one of the items that resonated an awful lot at doorsteps during the campaign,” Klein said. “I see this as a really good opportunity to improve service as well as increase revenue.”

Red River Exhibition chief executive officer Garth Rogerson said the idea of extending bus service, and possibly adding a park and ride site on the exhibition grounds to accommodate Headingley commuters and others entering the city from the west, isn’t new.

“I’ve been working with Transit for a couple of years to get this whole area serviced,” Rogerson said.

“It has to be a profitable route,” he said, adding that factors such as the ability of roads to handle bus traffic have to be considered.

“It really relies on the retail development at Westport Festival to get going,” he said, referring to a retail, hotel and commercial development planned for the area.

He would also like to see an active transportation route for cyclists coming into the area from Winnipeg.

The road system and utility services for Westport Festival went in a few years ago and since that time, the only regular use of the site has occurred during the Red River Ex when guests are directed to park in a large lot constructed on the west side of Exhibition Park. 

Rogerson said he expects the property owner and developer Shindico Realty to make an announcement about Westport Festival within the next few months.

He also said all the stakeholders involved in a future transit expansion, such as the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Infrastructure, Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (WMR), Peguis First Nation and the Manitoba Jockey Club that co-own Assiniboia Downs, True North Sports and Entertainment that owns the Iceplex and others, met in December to discuss the concept.

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The WMR — along with the City and Winnipeg Transit — is undertaking a transportation feasibility study to identify the costs and benefits of a transit route and park and ride program on the western edge of the city. 

The preliminary findings are expected to be released in a few months and will likely set the tone for park and ride sites in other municipalities surrounding the City said WMR executive director, Colleen Sklar.

“We’re hoping it becomes a model to begin to explore other routes and we’re hoping maybe that’s a north route, a south route and east route, but this will have to be developed as we move forward,” Sklar said. “We’re at the very early stages of this conversation.”

The City is also looking at the proposed service extension through the lens of its transit master plan, which will be a long-term investigation into improving bus ridership and transit infrastructure in Winnipeg. With both studies currently underway, a timeline for year-round service beyond the Perimeter has not yet been set.

“My hope is that when that information is made available, Transit will put together and present a strategy that may also benefit the (Metropolitan) region,” Klein said.

Andrea Geary
St. Vital community correspondent

Andrea Geary was a community correspondent for St. Vital and was once the community journalist for The Headliner.

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