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WFP: Step in right direction: GPS issues on buses fixed, Transit says (Feb5'26)
by Beth McKechnie 05 Feb '26

05 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Step in right direction: GPS issues on buses fixed, Transit says https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/02/04/step-in-the-right… WINNIPEG Transit says the GPS failure that wreaked havoc with bus schedules for several months has been fixed. That will provide much more extensive and accurate data to help improve the new primary transit network, said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West). “It’s just so huge because there’s a lot of conversation and suggestions and feedback that we’re getting that the buses aren’t connecting (well)… We can now take some of those buses that aren’t being utilized (enough and) put them on routes that need higher frequency, so we can make those connections. This (repair) is huge and this is great news,” said Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee. On July 7, a “widespread” GPS issue meant incorrect bus arrival times appeared on Navigo, bus schedule boards and Transit’s website, Transit previously noted. About 18 to 24 per cent of bus location reports were incorrect at the peak of the problem. On Wednesday, Transit said the number of GPS error messages is now within one per cent of a normal “baseline” error level of about three to four per cent of all reports. That improvement was first achieved in November but hasn’t impacted routes yet, since schedules take time to plan out. Transit expects the more accurate data will start helping to improve some routes in April, since the GPS system collects ridership data as well as bus timing details. Lukes noted the GPS failure began at the worst possible time, shortly after Transit switched to a new route network on June 29, which changed virtually every route in the city. The new spine-and-feeder concept, where direct spines along major corridors are supported by a network of feeder routes, means many rides that begin outside of a main route now require transfers, making bus timing even more important. Lukes said the failures had nothing to do with the route change but added confusion just as riders were learning the new system, noting it wasn’t clear what caused some missed and late buses. Following a presentation at a public works meeting Wednesday, Winnipeg Transit officials said the more accurate data that’s now available will allow the city to pinpoint where some changes are needed. “It gives us the ability to know where our passengers are with a higher degree of certainty. So, when we look at making some of the changes in terms of redistributing frequency (of buses) … we know exactly where and when you want to place the frequency,” said Adam Budowski, a senior Transit planner. “(We’re) looking forward to April (when) we’re making additional changes, more changes to frequency of routes like the F8. We’re improving that even more,” said Budowski. Transit declined to offer further details of upcoming changes, noting those will be released in a future report. The fix should also make some buses easier to track for riders. That’s because arrival times posted online for buses with glitching GPS systems would rely only on the bus schedule, instead of reflecting real-time delays. Winnipeg Transit director Greg Ewankiw said the issue required a lengthy process to fix. “We had to install a cable on each bus. And as you get to the older models of buses, the cabling becomes more complex, so it actually takes longer for each bus to (be fixed),” said Ewankiw. He said about 45 remaining buses still have cable issues that are now being addressed, a relatively small portion of Transit’s 640-bus fleet. “We actually have better reporting (on locations) now than what we did before this problem even started,” said Ewankiw. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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Globe editorial on plowing bike lanes and sidewalks
by feaver＠mts.net 04 Feb '26

04 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. This was the Globe and Mail's editorial yesterday: The slippery politics of snow removal The Editorial Board Published Yesterday Open this photo in gallery:<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/5VLMW5TCONDQVN2E5VJLBVF5Y4.JPG?a…> [cid:image001.jpg@01DC95C0.B1A6A460]<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/5VLMW5TCONDQVN2E5VJLBVF5Y4.JPG?a…> Bike lanes running along Toronto's Bloor Street remain blocked on Sunday, Feb. 1, a week after the city received a historic dump of snow. Kathryn Mannie/The Canadian Press 189 Comments<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-the-slippery-pol…> After a recent snowstorm hit Southern Ontario, an obvious pecking order revealed itself in Toronto. The roads were clear enough within days that drivers could move around at will. But people on foot or bike were left to fight through uncleared snow for more than a week. This was not the first time the city has struggled to deal with the aftermath of a storm. Who could forget former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman calling in the army and making the city butt of a national joke? But snow removal is no laughing matter. Delays in clearing can leave people trapped at home, or put them in dangerous situations. Doing it right is one of the fundamental responsibilities of local government. Snow clearing is also a matter of political choices. It's understandable that no city will have enough equipment and personnel to dig out immediately after an atypical snowstorm. The roughly 50 centimetres that fell on Toronto late in January was the snowiest single day on record. So choices have to be made, priorities determined. The choice not to clear many sidewalks and bike lanes is one Mayor Olivia Chow must wear. Something failed here. If the policy is the problem, change the policy. If crews are shirking, light a fire under them. If the snow-removal contracts Ms. Chow inherited are flawed, renegotiate them. Toronto is still digging out of a record-breaking dump of snow<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-toronto-is-still-digging-out…> Frustratingly, Toronto also fell down on the job<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-toronto-falls-do…> of clearing sidewalks promptly after another storm, less than a year ago. Was nothing learned? This pattern breaks the deal the city made with residents. Toronto pushes much of its growth to a small number of areas, which puts a premium on sidewalk space there. As well, the city no longer requires new developments to include parking spots. The logic is that local roads can't absorb more traffic, so many new residents will opt to walk or ride bicycles. However, Toronto is not living up to its side of the bargain: providing safe spaces for active transportation. Clearing snow is, like picking up garbage or running transit or keeping water fountains flowing, among the key tasks of big-city government. Doing these well is table stakes for urban life, allowing people to spend their time, safely and pleasantly, out in public. More stories below advertisement Before the rest of the country snickers too much at Toronto's winter woes, these are tests more easily aimed at than achieved. Snow clearing is a perennial complaint in cities across Canada. In many cases, people are right to complain. This is not kvetching, this is demanding competence. Without proper snow clearing, people can't get around. And it's illustrative to note just who gets left behind. Uncleared snow can result in disabled people being unable to leave home. Anyone with a stroller or a cart faces tough slogging. Cyclists are forced into traffic with motor vehicles, a dangerous scenario the city has spent tens of millions of dollars building infrastructure to prevent. Delivery riders risk their lives to bring food. This is unacceptable, particularly for a city as obsessed with equity as Toronto. Digging out? How to minimize the toll shovelling snow takes on your body<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/advice/article-shovelling-snow-how-to-…> With the city missing in action after the storm, many Torontonians stepped up to clear the sidewalk in front of their home. That's to be commended. But that it fell to them illustrates the inequity at play. The city wouldn't dream of relying on residents to shovel the road. Adding to the insult, the city gaslit its residents. There are examples of people complaining about a particular stretch of uncleared snow and being told that it had been taken care of, although it hadn't been. This recalls dishonesty after the storm last winter, when the city claimed sidewalks had been plowed while simple observation showed they hadn't. There was also policy incoherence. Some transit stops were cleared by moving the snow to an adjacent bicycle lane. Curb-lane parking spots on residential streets were being cleared out before all sidewalks were properly plowed. The approach must be rethought before the next storm. The first priority should be to ensure roads are clear enough for emergency vehicles to get through. Beyond that, deploy resources so that no manner of getting around is disadvantaged. Or, better yet, make the political choice to tackle snow removal more aggressively on sidewalks and bicycle lanes than roads. Cars can be mounted with snow tires but people can't, leaving them more vulnerable to winter conditions. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-the-slippery-pol…

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WFP: Nearly real-time look at plowing (Feb4'26)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Feb '26

04 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. NEARLY REAL-TIME LOOK AT PLOWING THE City of Winnipeg has updated its snow-clearing operations map to allow pedestrians to see where sidewalks and paths have been plowed in near real time. The city is now using automatic vehicle location technology built into its clearing equipment to update its online map every 15 minutes with the latest plowing progress on sidewalks, pathways and bike lanes, the municipal government said Tuesday. Previously, staff entered the information manually for an entire area, typically at the end of a 12-hour snow-clearing shift. “Winnipeggers want clear, timely information they can rely on,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham in a news release. “By using automatic vehicle location technology, we’re giving residents near real-time updates on snow-clearing progress so they can plan their trips safely and confidently.” https://www.winnipeg.ca/people-culture/our-city-our-stories/updating-you-fa…

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WFP: Analysis mixed on $900-million Chief Peguis extension (Jan30'26)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jan '26

30 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Analysis mixed on $900-million Chief Peguis extension https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/01/29/analysis-mixed-on… SUPPORTERS of a $900-million proposal to extend the Chief Peguis Trail predict it would help spark the construction of 15,000 new homes and create thousands of new jobs, while raising $59 million annually in new city tax revenue. Critics of the project that would extend Chief Peguis from Main Street to Brookside Boulevard say the money would be much better spent on other transportation priorities. A city staff report released Thursday shares details from a cost-benefit analysis of the project, which is now expected to cost $759 million. The city would spend another $140 million on interest if it funds the construction solely through debt. A Deloitte analysis concludes benefits of the project would exceed its costs by $42 million, down from a previous estimate of $98 million. However, city staff say more advanced traffic modelling shows the project would reduce more congestion than first expected, leading to higher “time savings” in travel. That could raise the estimated benefits to nearly $280 million, the city says. An interview request was not granted Thursday, so further details of the estimate were not available. Mayor Scott Gillingham said the massive investment would pay off, no matter which number the city relies on. “I really do believe as we continue to grow… the extension of Chief Peguis Trail is very important for the future of Winnipeg,” said Gillingham. The mayor promised to pursue the project during his 2022 election campaign, declaring it a key trade corridor. The benefits of extending the thoroughfare go beyond reducing commute times, to “create new homes and job opportunities in northwest Winnipeg,” the staff report states. Specifically, the extension should help develop an area next to CentrePort Canada, paving the way to create 5,600 jobs and make more housing development possible, it says. The municipal government can’t afford to fund the project alone, however, since the massive price would not fit within the city’s self-imposed debt limit, said Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works. Lukes (Waverley West) said the extension should be prioritized for potential provincial and federal funding in the future, especially if the senior governments seek new infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy. “We can’t do it alone…. (But) in today’s day and age, we have to be prepared,” she said. The city predicts the provincial and federal governments would collect $65 million each annually in new tax dollars when land adjacent to the project is fully developed. However, critics say it is far too expensive and will take scarce resources away from other necessary projects. Coun. Matt Allard said the analysis shows the extension doesn’t justify its cost. “I find the cost benefit to be low relative to the investment. We have enough liabilities in the city… that we need to fund,” said Allard (St. Boniface). “I don’t think we need to go and pick up a big new one.” If the city is willing to spend $900 million, it should instead split that money between Winnipeg Transit and renewing existing roads, he said. “All of a sudden (you would have) a transportation system that’s much better and a whole lot less potholes,” he said. An environmental activist would also like the city to spend its money elsewhere. “This (project) is going to just increase car dependence even further and we’re going to push that traffic into other neighbourhoods,” said Mel Marginet, a member of the Green Action Centre’s sustainable transportation team. Marginet said the benefits of the project appear to be dwindling. She believes spending more money on Winnipeg Transit instead would help decrease Winnipeggers’ reliance on single-occupant vehicles, a goal of the city’s Transportation Master Plan. “We’re seeing… lower and lower cost benefit analysis projections…. (And) we know it’s going to take money away from (key) transit projects,” she said. The mayor said he’s open to considering more transit spending, but stressed the city is already making significant investments in the new primary transit network, which it launched in June. City council is expected to consider the Chief Peguis Trail extension in its next strategic priorities action plan, with work on that expected to begin sometime after the Oct. 28 municipal election. The cost benefit analysis report does not recommend any immediate spending on the project. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP: Online database, city hall exhibition showcase photos of civic transit over the decades (Jan26'26)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Jan '26

26 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Online database, city hall exhibition showcase photos of civic transit over the decades Riding through history https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/01/25/riding-through-hi… THE transit buses, trolleys and Red River carts that carried Winnipeggers around for nearly 150 years are the driving force behind a new city project. The city’s archives department is in the process of preserving thousands of photos showing the history of civic transit in Winnipeg. Hundreds of photos are already available to view from a searchable database online. A select few will be part of a temporary exhibition at city hall. Until recently, the photos were sitting unseen in the yellowing pages of more than two dozen photo albums on shelves tucked away at Winnipeg Transit’s complex on Osborne Street. Members of the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association said they are thrilled the public will have the collection at their fingertips any time they want. “I think this is a really wonderful project,” said David Wyatt, secretary of the association. “We’ve seen some of the historic photos through the many, many years and they are great.” Alex Regiec, the heritage association’s vice-president, spent 30 years working at Winnipeg Transit in its operations department. He said the organization helped city archivists identify some of the photos. “When I worked at Transit they were in a series of binders close to my office,” he said. “I put the annual calendar together and drew on the photos for it. They were in good shape. “I’m very happy they are in very good hands.” Sarah Ramsden, senior archivist with the archives, said her department is pleased to house the collection. She said 600 of the 6,000 photos her department received are now online, with others to follow. Those that can’t go online due to copyright will still be preserved and the records available at the archives. “The exhibit is to make this collection better known,” said Ramsden. “We wanted to give people a little taste of what we have.” Greg Ewankiw, director of Winnipeg Transit, is also pleased the public will now have access, especially since between himself, his dad, brother, son and son-in-law, his family has spent 83 years at the public transit agency. “I drove a bus for 14 years,” Ewankiw said. “My father drove (an electric trolley). “We are so pleased the archivists could take this on and preserve it for everyone.” Gwen Friesen, an archival intern at the archives, recalls spending much of 2025 going through the photo collection and adding information to each including the photographer’s name, the type of vehicle, and where the photo was taken. “It was overwhelming to see so many and to know each one of them was going to get a description,” Friesen said. “It was a bit daunting at first… when I first saw them they were on a couple of shelves in very thick binders full of thousands of photos.” Friesen said the oldest photo in the collection is from 1882, showing a horse pulling an enclosed car. There is an even older photo from 1880, showing people being pulled in a Red River cart, but that image belongs to the Manitoba Archives Collection. Within a few years there was rail on the road, electric lines in the air, and streetcars were pushing aside the horsecars. From there came trolleys and, ultimately, different types of diesel buses over the decades. Friesen said the most recent photo is from 2005, when the first low-floor buses came into service. Regiec, whose organization preserves a collection of more than a dozen former Winnipeg Transit buses and others from Grey Goose, Northern Bus Lines and Beaver Bus Lines, said his favourite photos are ones showing trolleys. “I grew up in Winnipeg and, with my mom, I went on the North Main-Corydon route,” he said. “I have memories of the pole coming off the (electrical line) at Selkirk and Main Street and the driver, no matter what the weather, would have to go out and connect it again. “Now everyone can see what they looked like at the time.” The photos can be viewed at: wfp.to/transitarchive<http://wfp.to/transitarchive>. The temporary exhibit is set up on the main floor of the Susan A. Thompson building at city hall at 510 Main St. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca> [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] CITY OF WINNIPEG ARCHIVES [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] Above: Bus No. 138 heads eastbound along Portage Avenue in 1987. Left: Children in formal wear prepare to board a chartered gasoline bus pointing south on Memorial Boulevard in 1929. [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] Streetcars sit on Portage Avenue in front of the Osler Hammond & Nanton Building in the 1940s. CITY OF WINNIPEG ARCHIVES [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] Above: A man holds hands with two children in front of westbound streetcar No. 672 on Route 21 on Portage Avenue at Edmonton Street in this undated photo. The Eaton's department store is visible in the background. CITY OF WINNIPEG ARCHIVES [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] CITY OF WINNIPEG ARCHIVES [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] Left: A White Star Manufacturing horse-drawn cart in 1902. Right: Trolley bus No. 1540 heads east on route 73 (Sargent Avenue) passing Richmond Pharmacy (495 Sargent Ave.) in the 1940s. [https://winnipeg-can.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/ipad/html5.check.25012021/aja…] Sarah Ramsden (left), senior archivist, and Gwen Friesen, archival intern at the City of Winnipeg Archives, with the binders with yellowing pages in which many of the photos were stored for decades at the transit offices. Ramsden holds one of the photos depicting Winnipeg Electric Street Railway streetcar No. 10 on the St. Johns-Kildonan route, ca. 1892–1904 (City of Winnipeg Archives, Box A2266, File 62, Item 4.) MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS

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WFP: Police looking to be wheely fast on electric bikes (Jan21'26)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Police looking to be wheely fast on electric bikes https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/01/21/police-looking-to… Police won’t be working up a sweat while chasing criminals this summer — they will be on e-bikes. The Winnipeg Police Service has issued a tender to buy 16 electric bikes in time for spring. Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer said the bikes will be divided equally across the city in the service’s four districts for its foot patrol and community support units. “Bicycle patrols allow officers to respond more rapidly, engage easily with the public, get place to place with speed and operate in areas that would otherwise be inaccessible using traditional modes of transportation,” Spencer said Wednesday. “Similar police e-bike programs in other major Canadian cities have proven successful and have been welcomed by the community. It is another tool available to officers to better meet and enhance community expectations.” Marc Cohoe, of Bike Winnipeg, said officers will quickly realize the benefits of cycling instead of driving. “I think it’s a nice idea. Having police on bikes, as opposed to a car, it gives you that personal touch and a more live interaction,” Cohoe said. “It humanizes officers.” E-bikes, compared to the pedal-driven bicycles used in the past by police officers, will give them the ability to go further and faster to respond to calls or take action, Cohoe said. “The e-bike gives you a lot more range. You’re not as restricted as you are on foot,” he said. St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard, who regularly walks or cycles from his ward to city hall, said police will see several benefits when going through areas of the city on two wheels. “I walked from Provencher to city hall (on Wednesday) and I saw things I would never have seen if I was in a car,” Allard said. “When you think about boots on the ground, I think the bicycle is jut the right speed, especially for riding the beat. They’ll be able to see a lot, plus they will be faster than on foot. I see this as a good step.” Deadline for the tender is Feb. 10 at 4 p.m. kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP Editorial: Fixing Winnipeg Transit’s core problems (Jan20'26)
by Beth McKechnie 20 Jan '26

20 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. EDITORIAL Fixing Winnipeg Transit’s core problems https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/2026/01/20/fixing-winn… WINNIPEG Transit’s latest ridership numbers are sobering, but they should not be surprising. Between September and December 2025, average daily ridership fell by 14 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier, dropping to about 178,500 from 207,224. City officials have pointed to reduced immigration and the upheaval of a once-in-a-generation network overhaul as explanations. Both matter. But focusing too heavily on either risks missing the deeper, longer-standing problems that continue to push people off the bus in Winnipeg. There is truth to the immigration argument. Winnipeg Transit manager of service development, Bjorn Radstrom, is right to note that international students and temporary foreign workers tend to rely on transit at higher rates than the general population. Federal caps on international students have cut Manitoba’s allocation dramatically, and national immigration targets are lower than they were just a few years ago. Fewer newcomers inevitably means fewer transit riders, and Winnipeg is not alone in seeing ridership soften as a result. Mayor Scott Gillingham is correct that this is a national trend. But immigration numbers do not tell the whole story, and they do not absolve the city of responsibility. Ridership was already fragile before Ottawa changed course. Winnipeg Transit has struggled for years with problems riders know all too well: buses that do not show up on time, routes so overcrowded that drivers pass people by and schedules that cannot be relied on for something as basic as getting to work or school. These are not abstract complaints. They are daily experiences that teach people, over and over again, that the bus is a risk. The new primary network, launched in June 2025, was supposed to address some of those weaknesses by simplifying routes and focusing service where demand is highest. In principle, it made sense. In practice, however, the rollout has been painful for many riders. Some trips now take significantly longer, while others require transfers that add uncertainty and inconvenience. Evening service has been cut on certain routes, leaving students and shift workers scrambling for alternatives. City council and transit officials insist adjustments are being made each season, and that the full picture will only be clear by mid-2026. That may be true. But for riders who lost service that worked for them, patience is hard to summon. The uncomfortable reality is that Winnipeg attempted a major transit redesign without first fixing the underlying issue that undermines everything else: chronic underfunding. High-level routes are only attractive if buses come often enough that riders do not have to consult a timetable or worry about missing a connection. Reliability improves when spare capacity exists to absorb disruptions. None of that is possible on the cheap. If Winnipeg truly wants to reverse the decline, it needs to make the bus a default choice again — not a last resort. That means more buses on the road, higher frequency across the network and continued investments in transit priority measures that make trips faster and more predictable. It means acknowledging that complaints about pass-ups and unreliable schedules are not growing pains, but warning signs. Ridership will not magically rebound with warmer weather or better marketing. It will improve when people can trust that the bus will be there, on time, and often enough to fit real lives. Until the city and the province commit the funding required to make that happen, Winnipeg Transit’s struggles will continue — regardless of how many newcomers arrive or how elegant the network map looks on paper.

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WFP: Fewer newcomers, bus network overhaul blamed for ridership drop (Jan17'26)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Jan '26

17 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Bus network overhaul, fewer newcomers cited in seasonal drop Winnipeg Transit ridership plummets https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/01/16/fewer-newcomers-b… FEWER people rode Winnipeg Transit in the fall, a trend some blame on reduced immigration and a recent bus network overhaul. Transit data shows average daily rider counts fell 14 per cent in September to December 2025, when compared to the same period of the previous year. The average rider count fell to 178,505 from 207,224. “This is on track for what I thought we would see … The fact that it’s that much, (since we) were already seeing a ridership drop for other reasons, it doesn’t surprise me. We just now need to work at addressing what the issues are, making the improvements and making sure the system’s as good as it can be,” said Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit’s manager of service development. Radstrom said ridership began to decline several months before Transit implemented a new primary network that changed virtually every route in the system on June 29, 2025. He believes the initial reduction is directly tied to federal policy changes that reduced immigration, leading fewer temporary foreign workers and international students to come to Winnipeg. “Those are groups of people that tend to use transit at a higher rate than the general population … so that would definitely explain some of the drop in ridership,” he said. Radstrom said other passengers likely did stop taking the bus due to the network change, adding to the decline. “You’ve got the one group of people that the new system is not better for and some of them might have decided not to take transit … What’s going to drive an increase in ridership is people who have never really considered taking the bus before who now have better service available to them. But it takes time for them to learn it’s there, realize it’s there and to give it a shot,” he said. Radstrom said he hopes more people will start to discover their Transit routes have improved this spring. Mayor Scott Gillingham said many Canadian cities saw public transit ridership decline in late 2024, likely due to immigration changes. Manitoba was allotted 11,196 spots for international students this year, due to a federal cap, down from 18,951 in 2025. The latest federal immigration plan aims to add 380,000 new permanent residents across Canada in 2026, down from a 485,000 target in 2024. Those opting not to board buses due to the network changes should be aware the city is closely monitoring Transit and making changes in response to public feedback, said Gillingham. “We’re making record investments in the transit system, and it’s been a significant, monumental change (with the network) that we have introduced to transit. It’s going to take some time for that change to settle in,” he said. The mayor said the city should be able to better gauge the full impact of the network around June 2026, one year after it took effect. “We’ve made the most significant change to transit … in, really, probably the city’s history … We’ll continue to monitor the data and see what adjustments need to be made,” said Gillingham. The new network has triggered many rider complaints, with some passengers stating their routes now take far longer to complete, while others said service ends too early for them to get home from school or work. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said the city has made adjustments every season to respond to feedback, which will continue. She stressed the new network is not the only factor driving down ridership. “We didn’t expect the hit with the international students … On transit ridership, it’s a massive hit, if you don’t have thousands of people taking the bus because they’re not in the country,” said Lukes (Waverley West). The councillor said the lost fare revenue will pose a challenge to the city’s bottom line. The head of a group that has long pushed for more Transit spending said the new network was needed, even if it led some riders to stop taking the bus. “There’s no going back. This was emergency foundation repair. There is no way that we could truly grow as a city under the old system,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg. Rider frustration should be expected, though, because the city has long failed to spend enough money on Transit to ensure the system operates as frequently as it should, said Owens. “This changeover was not a changeover to an ideal transit system. The system is still vastly underfunded,” he said. To attract more riders, Owens suggested Transit speed up bus trips by adding more Transit corridors and bus priority signals at intersections. The signals give buses a head start before all other traffic. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP Columnist: More and more parking spaces amid empty promises (Jan9'26)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Jan '26

11 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. More and more parking spaces amid empty promises https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/2026/01/09/more-and-mo… I tell my teenage stepdaughter to slow the car down as the security guard approaches. I’m giving her an evening driving lesson in the most obvious venue in West Broadway — the enormous, barren expanse of concrete that is the parking lot behind the Canada Life buildings on Osborne Street. The guard knocks on the window and asks us what we’re doing on the property. I explain, but he asks us to leave. I explain we’re going to have to switch drivers but then we’d be on our way. We head out to the Hydro parking lot on Taylor Avenue, where I first learned to drive years ago. While disappointing, this less-than-warm greeting should have been expected from the company formerly known as Great West Life. For years as I passed by, I watched as the old house at 51 Balmoral St., adjacent to the parking lot, slowly rotted in place. The story goes that it was the last home standing after Great West Life flattened all surrounding dwellings during their expansion in the 1970s and ’80s. The owner was elderly, and wished only to die in the home, upon which it would be forfeited to the company and slated for demolition with the others. However, the resident lived long enough that the house was designated of historical value and levelling it was no longer an option. So, the company was saddled with a structure they wished to remove to make way for even more parking. I was on the West Broadway Development Corporation board during the years Great West Life was desperately trying to offload 51 Balmoral, lest it remain saddled with its increasingly expensive upkeep. Eventually the decision to allow demolition came to a vote for the board. I was the lone holdout against demolition that eventually resulted in Great West Life partnering with the YMCA to renovate and expand the house into a 100-space daycare, with 90 of those spaces reserved for its own employees. I recall thinking at the time, “What was so difficult about that? Why couldn’t it have repurposed it long ago instead of fighting us for so long?” But it shouldn’t have surprised me. Because the history of Great West Life/Canada Life in West Broadway is one of ceaseless unneighbourliness and willful ignorance to the needs of the community in which it conducts its business. The area upon which Canada Life now stands was once home to Shea’s Brewery, Osborne Stadium and the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, a hallowed and unheated building from where the first hockey game ever broadcast by radio was played. It was also home to an apartment building and eight heritage homes on the first block of Whitehall Avenue. All eventually made way for 450 vehicles to park. In the 1970s, Great West Life petitioned the city to demolish not only the homes on the remaining block of Whitehall, but also the homes on Good Street and on the east side of Balmoral. Its design promised condominiums and rental units, and only a modest increase in parking spaces. Of course, we got none of the housing, and parking in a decidedly immodest quantity. The result? West Broadway was gutted of its historic homes, its cohesiveness and dignity as a residential community, and, importantly, much of the mixed-income housing our city now so desperately needs. The homes that remain on Balmoral, overlooking the “graveyard” of their once-neighbours, are a testament to the fine architecture that was laid to waste in the pursuit of parking stalls and empty promises. Now, when the city has agreed to build back some of the housing that was destroyed, promised and ultimately never delivered by Great West Life, the Granite Curling Club is paying the price through the loss of its parking lot. The club has reported it's been unable to make any long-term arrangements with Canada Life to use even a portion of its embarrassing legacy of neighbourhood erasure to serve the community in which it dwells. Instead, the last companion of the original stadium and arena continues to be crowded out by the land-hungry insurance giant. The present moment offers an elegant opportunity for penance. It’s long past time to recognize that the housing being built on the Granite’s lot is a mere fraction of what Great West Life themselves promised for the neighbourhood, and trading that for the parking which replaced it is an act of neighbourhood reconciliation desperately needed if this city is to define a better path forward. With 67 years of encroachment upon the lives of the people of West Broadway, Canada Life might do well to remind themselves of an old adage: the best time to make amends is yesterday, and the next best time to do so is today. winnipegfreepress.com/rebeccachambers<http://winnipegfreepress.com/rebeccachambers>

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WFP Editorial: Transit service must be dependable (Jan8'26)
by Beth McKechnie 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. EDITORIAL Transit service must be dependable https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/2026/01/08/transit-ser… IF there’s anything worse for a public-transportation user than waiting in the winter cold for a Winnipeg Transit bus that never arrives, it surely must be waiting for a bus that does arrive but, being already overpacked with a standing-room complement of riders, passes by without stopping or opening its doors. That, however, is the reality currently faced by too many users of Winnipeg’s transit system, which last year underwent a massive reorganization of its routes and schedules in an effort to make the service more efficient, more reliable and — perhaps most important — more appealing to this city’s car-dependent population as a viable option for getting from one place to another. According to data released in December by Winnipeg Transit, the number of pass-ups — defined as when a bus is too full to allow more passengers to board, or is unable to accommodate a wheelchair either because the bus is too full or both wheelchair positions are already in use — experienced by the service last September (3,375) was the second-highest on record, eclipsed only by the 3,414 that occurred in September 2019. Between September and November last year, 6,971 pass-ups were recorded (bus operators have access to a button which is pressed when a passup occurs), compared to 5,779 in the same period the previous year. In 2019, 8,297 were recorded. “Defeating” is how one frequent rider characterized his recent pass-up experiences after waiting for scheduled buses but being unable to catch a ride home from work, adding “when it happens so frequently, it feels like no one cares and they’re not trying to fix it.” That is definitely not a description befitting a transit service that has become more efficient, reliable and/or appealing to its users. In fairness, Winnipeg Transit has been, and still is, attempting to address the deficiencies in its reconfigured system. Major overhauls such as the one the service enacted last year are bound to experience setbacks, hiccups, frustrations or whatever other term one might use to describe a failure for performance to match promise. Since the June 29 imposition of the new primary transit network — replacing the long-established model with a more streamlined configuration in which “feeder” buses connect riders with a smaller number of primary “spine” routes — Transit has made numerous adjustments, based in large part on feedback from (mostly dissatisfied) customers. But the system remains very much a work in progress, as evidenced by the recently released pass-up figures, and the reasons offered by Transit officials — including a return to full service levels on all routes (many had been reduced during the pandemic) and the fact some transit users are having difficulty adjusting to the route reorganization — will provide little comfort to those enduring the frozen frustration of being passed up by yet another overburdened bus. It also must be noted that the unacceptable pass-up rate is not the only critical issue with which the public-transit enterprise is grappling. Fare evasion and the on-board safety of both operators and passengers remain serious concerns that also affect public perception of the service and discourage ridership on buses. But nothing is more fundamental to the viability of public transport than it being readily available to those who have chosen to use it. For a full-time transit user, transit is their route to work, school or home — it isn’t optional. Leaving would-be passengers stranded at stops thousands of times per month — particularly during a winter city’s most inhospitable season — while overcrowded buses pass them by is a failure that must be addressed before Winnipeg can expect the public to get on board, both literally and figuratively, with public transportation.

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