Counillor demands better sidewalk clearing
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/01/25/councillor-demand…
A CITY of Winnipeg councillor is pushing to make the clearing of sidewalks
right down to pavement the same priority as removing snow on the busiest
streets.
“People are getting hurt,” said Coun. Matt Allard, who introduced a motion
at council’s meeting Thursday.
It calls for snow and ice to be cleared from sidewalks at the same level as
Priority 1 streets, regardless of whether the sidewalk or active
transportation path is on a Priority 1, 2 or 3 (residential) street.
The motion also calls for plow operators and contractors to be subject to
fines if they push snow onto sidewalks and don’t remove it, and for the
city to establish a reserve fund for snow-clearing operations.
He has advocated for improved snow clearing for several years, but recently
while taking the bus, the councillor for St. Boniface said he noticed the
road was bare but the sidewalk hadn’t been plowed and pedestrians were
having to trudge through snow.
The difference in clearing was obvious along Archibald Street. When he
posted about the issue on social media, he heard similar complaints from
Winnipeggers who have struggled to walk on sidewalks during this relatively
mild winter.
“People slip and fall, get injured and, in some cases, some injuries can
lead to fatalities, so people are suffering,” Allard said.
“I don’t think, as a human rights city, that our snow-clearing policy
conforms to human rights,” he said.
The councillor maintained the current snow-clearing policy fails to uphold
the rights of mobility and equal access to government services. He said
people with mobility issues and people who don’t drive cars should be able
to get around just as easily as motorists do in winter.
“To me, this is a blatant violation of people’s human rights because of
freedom of mobility and equality of access to services from government.”
His motion was referred to the public works committee.
Winnipeg’s council-approved snow clearing policy was recently updated, and
this is the first winter the city has had 15 additional sidewalk
snow-clearing machines to put to use. They’ve been out since late last year.
“Anecdotally, our crews and inspectors say it has definitely made a
positive difference in the service we are able to provide,” stated Julie
Dooley, communications co-ordinator for public works.
The cost of snow clearing so far this winter season is not yet available, a
spokesperson for the public works department said Thursday.
Every winter for about a decade, the city has gone over-budget on snow
removal. That’s part of the reason Allard’s motion asks for a reserve fund,
which he said would make the spending more transparent. A reserve fund
existed in the past, but was removed due to cost pressures, he said.
“There has been progress, but I think there’s a lot more work to do,” he
said.
The city’s priority levels for snow clearing are set based on traffic
volumes and result in the busiest streets being cleared first. Priority 1
roads are supposed to be cleared to bare pavement within 36 hours of an
average snowstorm, and are then salted.
Sidewalks along Priority 1 and 2 streets are plowed after a five centimetre
snowfall and maintained to “a compacted snow surface,” the policy states,
except for downtown sidewalks, which are to be cleared to bare pavement.
Typically, sidewalks in residential areas have been the lowest priority.
Sidewalks along Priority 3 roads are plowed to a compacted snow surface
only after all the other sidewalks are plowed. The policy was changed last
year to prioritize sidewalk plowing near elementary schools, and a deadline
was added, stating sidewalk plowing should normally be finished within five
days (not including weekends or holidays).
katie.may(a)winnipegfreepress.com
WINNIPEGGERS can weigh in on new potential bike routes as part of a vision
to revitalize downtown.
The city has launched a survey to gather feedback on the alignments for
cycling routes along St. Mary Avenue and York Avenue, as well as Notre Dame
Avenue and Cumberland Avenue. The potential alignments are posted online.
Residents can also register to attend a virtual Zoom event at 7 p.m. on
Feb. 7.
More information about the survey and virtual event is available at
https://engage.winnipeg.ca/centreplan2050.
Hello winter warriors!
You are invited to Winterpeg is For Everyone outdoor adventures tailored to
persons with disabilities.
Hosted by Winnipeg Trails and Paralympian and Coach Olex Korniiko
*Who*
You! Persons with disabilities who would like to share their experience
with a community and/or learn new skills.
*What:*
(Optional) Olexercise Tailored exercise session for persons with any
disability with Paralympian and Coach Olex Korniiko. Join in person or ask
for an online link to join at home.
(Main event) Equipment and support for winter adventures. Somewhere new
each week! Get fresh tracks. Join mobile ski library afterward. Invite
friends and family and do both!
*HOW TO JOIN: *
Click the event link for full info and to RSVP:
https://winterpeg.org/events/olexercise-and-other-cool-programming-for-peop…
Or email olex(a)winnipegtrails.ca or call Olex at 431-334-5527
*When: *
SATURDAYS in winter
11:00am - Olexercise!
12:00 noon - Winterpeg is For Everyone Winter Adventures
*Where:*UPCOMING LOCATIONS AND DATES
Saturday January 27th - Fort Garry CC
Saturday February 3rd - St.Norbert CC
Saturday February 10th -Seine River Adventure @ Kilter Brewery
Saturday February 17th - Lindenwoods CC
Friday February 23rd - Brewski at Assiniboine Park (+18) (6:30pm start)
NOTE: Saturday February 24th - No program.
Saturday March 2nd - St.Norbert Community Centre
More Winter events in March as weather allows. Get in touch for spring and
summer events too!
*Why: *Have fun. Build community. Try new things.
*Note: Persons with disabilities welcome at all Winterpeg events of course.
Visit Winterpeg.org for the full calendar of events and some info on
accessibility of the event site and equipment that may be available. *
*Image caption note for persons with disabilities: attached poster shows
the same information as the PDF and includes with an image of a person
using a sit ski, and the Winterpeg logo, showing a stylized face "eating" a
snowflake. *
https://engage.winnipeg.ca/reduced-speed-neighbourhood-pilot
We want to share what we’ve learned so far.
Join us at a drop-in (come-and-go) community event as part of Phase 2
engagement!
We are holding one event in each pilot neighbourhood.
Preview the presentation boards
<https://engage.winnipeg.ca/29627/widgets/120073/documents/121866>.
The events provide the opportunity for you to talk to the project team,
learn more about the project and share your experiences, expectations, and
opinions.
Bourkevale
Date: Monday, January 29, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: Bourkevale Community Centre, 100 Ferry Rd(External link)
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/sHc6TNUdKHxaWkYBA>
Format: Drop-in (come-and-go)
Tyndall Park (South)
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: Sir William Stephenson Library, 765 Keewatin St(External link)
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/YUwD77RnH7Njx9eU8>
Format: Drop-in (come-and-go)
Richmond West
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: South Winnipeg Community Centre – Richmond, 666 Silverstone
Ave(External
link) <https://maps.app.goo.gl/AXNz3mSCAAhzJCcm9>
Format: Drop-in (come-and-go)
Worthington
Date: Thursday, February 1, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre, 26 Molgat Ave(External link)
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/ceiTAD1r846vxu7v9>
Format: Drop-in (come-and-go)
Despite initial bumps in the road, the express Blue Line is Transit’s
busiest route and packed with lessons for system expansion
The future is Blue
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/01/01/the-future-is-blue
IT’S 7:31 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 outside Balmoral Station when the
metaphorical whistle blows — a text exchange between a bus rider and
motorist ending with, “Race on.”
The former is a reporter. The latter is a photographer, who is competing
against Winnipeg Transit’s Blue Line in a marked Free Press vehicle during
rush hour.
The rules are straightforward: Start driving when the rapid transit bus leaves
its first downtown stop of the route, follow the speed limit and stop the
timer upon parking at the University of Manitoba.
Just over 22 minutes later, the vehicle driver is first to arrive. An
accordion bus pulls up to the Fort Garry campus’ main stretch at 8:11 a.m,
capping off a public transit commute nearly twice the length of a drive.
Winnipeg Transit’s Bjorn Radstrom would argue that an asterisk must be
attached to the vehicle driver’s win, especially given both the skies and
roads were clear.
Radstrom said “rapid transit” is a misnomer because while he said speed is
valued, the most important thing for the local Transit service, per rider
feedback, is reliability. (Frequency is also high up on the service’s list
of priorities, he said.)
“If somebody is driving to the U of M or from the south end of the city to
downtown and traffic is going really well, sure, odds are they’re going to
be faster in their car than on a bus. But when things get really congested
for cars, the bus should always take roughly the same amount of time,” said
the manager of Transit service development at the City of Winnipeg.
“You can rely on that and not be concerned your whole day is going to be
messed up because of a snowstorm or bad traffic.”
To his point, the city’s Navigo trip-planner estimated the morning Transit
trip from downtown to Fort Garry would take 38 minutes via the express
route, and it ended up taking just shy of 40 minutes.
••• The Blue Line spans 11.2 kilometres in length — much of it parallel to
Pembina Highway, on a roadway that was built to keep buses separate from
other traffic and allow them to travel at speeds up to 80 km/h.
The $467-million project, also known as the Southwest Transitway, sought to
divert traffic from a busy commuter corridor between downtown and the U of
M.
And it’s been successful in doing so. Despite initial bumps in the road,
the express line is now the busiest in Winnipeg Transit’s network.
The first phase of the transitway was unveiled in 2012. The completed
project’s highly anticipated launch happened eight years later, during a
historic low in public transit use and as city officials were pleading with
residents to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Daily boardings across the city have returned to 94 per cent of
pre-pandemic levels. On the Blue Line, the number of weekday boardings is
more than four times what it was shortly after its rollout in April 2020.
On average, there were 3,906 daily user transactions on the Blue Line
during the fall of the launch year. That figure climbed to 7,112 in 2021,
13,715 in 2022, and is currently sitting at 16,937.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a bus (en route home) that hasn’t been
packed,” said Elise D’Aoust, a U of M student who takes the Blue Line to
and from classes.
D’Aoust, who lives in Charleswood, parks her car at Chancellor Station
and rides
the bus if she does not need her vehicle to get to work later in the day.
She said she can typically count on the Transit ride taking fewer than 15
minutes in either direction.
Costly parking and the U-Pass — a discounted bus pass that provides
post-secondary students with unlimited rides during their studies, in
exchange for the entire student body paying a mandatory fee — are both
motivators to use a sustainable mode of transportation, D’Aoust said.
Another bonus is she has free hands to scroll social media or read a
textbook on the bus. “If I want to force myself to study, I’ll make sure
that I bus,” she added.
••• Forty-one per cent of all students, staff and faculty members travel
via public transit to U of M’s main campus, one of the most popular transit
hubs in the city — second only to the downtown core.
Driving alone is the second most popular mode of transportation, followed
by carpooling, walking and biking — accounting for 25 per cent, 11 per
cent, four per cent and one per cent of all commuters, respectively.
Sixteen per cent of individuals work or study from home, and the remainder
did not disclose their exact commute logistics in the university’s 2023
campus commute survey.
Nearly 6,000 community members, representing a 15 per cent response rate,
completed the online poll between Jan. 16-31, 2023.
“There’ve been a few shifts — for staff, especially, in the 2023 survey
because there has been a little more flexibility in terms of some
work-from-home days so that has changed the commute lens a little bit,”
said Jessie Klassen, U of M’s sustainability projects co-ordinator, during
a recent episode of Not Necessarily the Automobile — a campus radio show
that explores public and active transportation issues.
Citing respondents’ frustrations about late buses, overcrowding and
pass-bys due to full loads, a report on the latest commuter findings
includes a call for administration to address service-level concerns with
Winnipeg Transit.
“Our students pay for a lot of Transit and get the absolute minimum,” one
participant said in their 2023 submission. Another wrote they often cannot
catch a transfer until five or six packed buses come and go during rush
hour.
Several community members indicated they purchased vehicles because of
their poor service experiences.
Transit service development boss Radstrom said he welcomes formal
complaints — the more specific, the better — so that staffers know where
the problems are and can work to fix them.
“Ridership has really come back very strongly (post-pandemic) and if
anything, it’s higher than we expected it to be, so what we’re struggling
with now is really high passenger loads on the Blue Line,” he said.
The aftermath of COVID-19’s system-wide halt, government funding approval
delays and supply chain problems are currently causing Winnipeg Transit
challenges, he said.
Radstrom noted that Transit needs more of the articulated or “bendy buses,”
each of which can fit about 50 more passengers than traditional
40-foot-long vehicles, because the existing fleet is aging. That aging, in
turn, adds to service issues because there are not enough usable buses to
meet ridership demands.
••• Blue Line buses are scheduled to make stops along the main line — which
splits in two around Waverley Heights so drivers can service U of M and St.
Norbert loops — every four to five minutes during weekday rush hours.
Buses become more infrequent during quieter times, although passengers are
never supposed to wait more than 35 minutes for a ride at a major stop, per
Winnipeg Transit’s schedule.
The successes of the transitway, including its spine and feeder model, are
now informing plans to overhaul the city’s wider network.
Radstrom said change is required to simplify and straighten out routes by
minimizing left turns, among other updates that will speed up run times and
increase the efficiency of the existing system, which he calls “convoluted.”
The host of UMFM’s Not Necessarily the Automobile has no shortage of ideas
on how to improve service and in turn reduce CO2 emissions in the city —
more than half of which are currently linked to transportation.
Adam Johnston said the city needs to implement universal low-cost fares,
bolster advertising efforts to attract riders, and do a better job of
linking bus routes to active transportation paths.
“If Winnipeg wants to get to a million people, we can’t just keep expanding
freeways like Kenaston and Chief Peguis,” Johnston said.
“We have to have serious discussions about land use and getting out of the
car and building sustainable communities, and that does include a more
equitable Transit system here in the city.”
maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca