- AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

Changing Lanes | February 25th
by Mel Marginet 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. On February 25th, Green Action Centre will welcome Todd Litman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute for Changing Lanes. Changing Lanes: Better Value From Winnipeg Transportation Investments North American cities are trapped in a wasteful cycle: more driving, reduced travel options and pressure to build and maintain ever-more costly infrastructure. Cities need better solutions to traffic problems. Roadway expansions are expensive, and typically provide only temporary relief until added traffic fills the new capacity. There are “win-win” solutions that reduce congestion while also advancing other community goals including affordability, pollution reduction, trade diversification, equity, public health and safety. Applying these solutions requires a shift to accessibility-based planning that recognizes the many benefits provided by multimodal planning and compact neighbourhoods. In this keynote address, Todd Litman will share important insights from his latest work: Smart Congestion Relief, Affordability as a Transportation Planning Goal and The Mobility-Productivity Paradox. His research provides practical guidance for making infrastructure investments more cost-effective, improving affordability and fairness, and creating more inclusive, livable communities. BOOK YOUR TICKET<https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/changing-lanes> THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Councillor Emma Durand-Wood Landmark Planning and Design Peg City Car Co-op Councillor Brian Mayes Mel Marginet | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 300-286 Smith Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1K4 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> *Note: I work two days a week at Green Action Centre and it may take a few days to respond to you. We are located on Treaty 1 Territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation. The water we drink comes from Shoal Lake First Nation. [https://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif] Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org<http://canadahelps.org/> [https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4xnHIzg-oNAxItLMxFnB1HS5HGb…]<http://gomb.ca>

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WFP: City of Winnipeg looks at delaying projects to tackle province’s wish list
by Patman, David 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. City of Winnipeg looks at delaying projects to tackle province’s wish list By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 6:17 PM CST Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 The installation of new spray pads and improvements to road safety could be shelved for a year so the City of Winnipeg can pay for projects the provincial government wants instead. In a report to be considered by the executive policy committee next week, the administration recommends council amend its 2025 capital budget, which was approved more than a year ago, to put $5 million toward the Assiniboine Park Conservancy animal health centre and $520,000 for renovations to the St. Boniface Museum. In addition, the city would reallocate unspent funds from other projects to pay for the Waverley West fire station after the province gave the city $508,000 less than expected for its construction. The administration says council should cancel this year’s $2.5-million spray pad program and $2.5 million road safety improvement program, to pay for the animal health centre. To pay for the fire hall, it suggests using unspent funds earmarked for the St. Boniface industrial area and Windsor Park station consolidation, as well as the Waverley West modular station and site development project. “Obviously it’s frustrating,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty, chairman of the civic finance committee, on Tuesday. “Council passed the budget on Jan. 29, 2025, and then we didn’t hear from the province until December of 2025 and they had different priorities for us. “You lose spending power… we lose construction season on things like road safety and spray pads when it takes them a year or two to sign off on our strategic infrastructure basket of priorities.” Browaty said he doesn’t understand why the province has made the two projects a priority. “If something happens, like there is a new massive important priority for the city and the province, I can accept making those changes, but in my opinion the Assiniboine Park Conservancy animal health centre and the St. Boniface Museum renovation are maybe a little questionable,” he said. The finance chair said road safety, spray pads and the fire hall are just as important. A spokesman for Glen Simard, the municipal relations minister, said in a statement the province is committed to working with the city on shared priorities, noting it gave Winnipeg $94 million for strategic projects, as well as $6.9 million it can allocate for any project it wants The spokesman said the province will continue to meet with the mayor and city council “to benefit Winnipeggers with better service and amenities.” The city had been planning to build new spray pads this year at Beryl Watts Park and the Tyndall Park Community Centre, but under the recommendation, they would be delayed until 2027. Construction of other spray pads in future years, including at Chalmers Community Centre, Bord-Aire Community Centre and the Norberry-Glenlea Community Centre, would be moved back a year; while the spray pad planned for the Riverview Community Centre in 2029 would be cancelled and considered as part of next year’s multi-year budget process. A city spokesman said road safety projects can include new pedestrian crossings, traffic signals, rail crossing improvements and adding left turn signals at intersections. kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP Community Weekly: Call to restore 50/50 transit funding (Feb11'26)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Call to restore 50/50 transit funding Adam Johnston, who owns a home in the Talbot-Grey section of Elmwood and has lived in various parts of Elmwood and East Kildonan his entire life, has launched a campaign to restore shared provincial funding for transit. Back in November, talking to other transit users and advocates, Johnston learned that many others shared his concern over a “lack of consistent funding” for transit. The Province of Manitoba formerly had an agreement with municipalities whereby the province would fund 50 per cent of transit operations[1.1]. This agreement was ended in 2017 by the previous provincial government. A survey from 2018 [2.1]showed that around 80 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted it restored. The current provincial government has not yet restored the transit funding agreement. Johnston believes inflationary pressures, rising fare costs, and Winnipeg Transit’s 2025 switch to a new network has revealed the inadequacy of funding for bus service and the insufficiency of transit service. Rising fares are a particular concern for Johnston, who argues they can lead to more fare disputes — which undermine safety. While some of Winnipeg Transit’s new routes, such as the Frequent Express Regent-Grant (FX3) line, have been more convenient and frequent for Johnston, other changes have resulted in worse service. As an example, he notes that the D17 (Direct Talbot - Selkirk) ends earlier on weekends than the route it replaced 44 (Grey). “It’s not the system, it’s the service levels – and that comes down to funding,” Johnston said. For Johnston, provincial funding is a matter of equity and planning for growth. He notes that women, those with lower incomes, and Indigenous peoples are overrepresented as transit riders. He also notes that those living in older communities, such as Elmwood, are more likely to take transit. As Winnipeg has over 800,000 residents and could reach a million in the not-too-distant future, it’s important to realize that not everyone will be driving cars for every trip and an effective, well-funded mass transit system is necessary to support growth. Johnston said this ties into various provincial policy concerns, including climate. “Half the city’s carbon emissions come from transportation and most of those come from private automobiles. When you support public transit, it’s a climate justice and transportation justice issue… you’re addressing two challenges with one stone” Johnston said. To learn more about the campaign to restore 50-50 provincial funding for transit you can visit 5050transitwpg.wordpress.com Dylon Martin is a community correspondent for Elmwood.

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Fwd: Funding Support to Help You Attend the Canadian Trail Summit / Du financement pour vous aider à vous rendre au Sommet canadien sur les sentiers
by Anders Swanson 10 Feb '26

10 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. If anyone know someone who would like to attend but could use support to attend the trail summit happening in Winnipeg. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Anders Swanson <ed(a)winnipegtrails.ca<mailto:ed@winnipegtrails.ca>> Date: Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 10:30 AM Subject: Fwd: Funding Support to Help You Attend the Canadian Trail Summit / Du financement pour vous aider à vous rendre au Sommet canadien sur les sentiers To: Anders Swanson <andersswanson(a)gmail.com<mailto:andersswanson@gmail.com>> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Trans Canada Trail <communications(a)tctrail.ca<mailto:communications@tctrail.ca>> Date: Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM Subject: Funding Support to Help You Attend the Canadian Trail Summit / Du financement pour vous aider à vous rendre au Sommet canadien sur les sentiers To: <ed(a)winnipegtrails.ca<mailto:ed@winnipegtrails.ca>> [Image placeholder] – Version française plus bas – Hello Anders Swanson, Trans Canada Trail has launched a new fund that can help members of non-profit organizations attend the 2026 Canadian Trail Summit<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImY2Y2JjNzM0LWYyNWU…>. The Organization Capacity Building & Professional Development Fund helps volunteer groups and non-profit organizations pursue opportunities that enhance the skills, knowledge, and leadership capabilities of staff, volunteers and board members. This includes professional development funding to help cover costs associated with attending the Canadian Trail Summit. How to Apply + Deadline: * Apply online through our online form<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjRlOTE0N2QxLTQxNzE…> (make sure to select “Professional Development”) * Deadline: February 28, 2026 Things to know before you apply: 1. Select “Professional Development” - The online form includes two options. Click the box beside “Professional Development” to apply for funding for the Canadian Trail Summit. 1. No membership required - This fund is open to non-profit groups or trail organizations either on or off the Trans Canada Trail. 1. For-profit organizations are ineligible – Applicants must work, volunteer, study or be affiliated with a non-profit organization. 1. One grant per organization - A maximum of one participant per trail organization may receive funding. 1. Do your research – Please be prepared to provide a rough budget for your costs associated with attending the Summit. This includes: registration fees, travel expenses, accommodation, meals, and any additional expenses (please specify). APPLY NOW<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjU2YzAxODY0LWViZWM…> Funding is limited, so there is no guarantee every eligible applicant will receive a grant. For any questions, please use our contact form<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImM5ZmE3YzA4LTdjYzc…> and a member of our team will get back to you as quickly as possible. ________________________________ Bonjour Anders Swanson, Sentier Transcanadien a mis en place un nouveau fonds afin d’aider les membres d’organismes à but non lucratif à assister au Sommet canadien sur les sentiers 2026.<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6Ijk5YjE5MjA5LTdkYzc…> Le Fonds pour le renforcement des capacités et le développement professionnel aide les groupes bénévoles et les organismes à but non lucratif à explorer les possibilités de développement professionnel qui améliorent les compétences, les connaissances et les capacités de leadership du personnel, des bénévoles et des membres du conseil d’administration. Cela inclut du financement pour du développement professionnel pour aider à couvrir les coûts associés au Sommet canadien sur les sentiers. Comment faire une demande + date limite : * Faites une demande en utilisant le formulaire en ligne<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImE3M2FjMjQ4LWEwNDQ…> (assurez-vous de sélectionner « Développement professionnel ») * Date limite : 28 février 2026 À savoir avant de faire une demande : 1. Sélectionnez « Développement professionnel ». Le formulaire en ligne offre deux options. Cochez la case « Développement professionnel » pour faire une demande de financement pour le Sommet canadien sur les sentiers. 1. Pas d’adhésion obligatoire. Ce fonds est accessible à tous les organismes et groupes de sentier à but non lucratif qui se trouvent sur le Sentier Transcanadien ou non. 1. Les organisations à but lucratif ne sont pas admissibles. Les demandes doivent venir de bénévoles ou de personnes qui travaillent, étudient ou sont affiliées à un organisme à but non lucratif. 1. Une subvention par organisation. Un maximum d’un participant ou d’une participante par organisation de sentiers peut recevoir une subvention. 1. Faites vos recherches. Vous devrez fournir un budget approximatif des coûts associés à votre présence au Sommet. Cela inclut : frais d’inscription, frais de déplacement, hébergement, repas et toute dépense supplémentaire (veuillez préciser). FAIRE UNE DEMANDE<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjFhZDYzZDQ0LTU3MjQ…> Le financement est limité, il n’est donc pas de garanti que toutes les demandes admissibles recevront une subvention. Pour toute question, veuillez utiliser notre formulaire de contact<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjQzOGU3NDRiLTNiOWE…> et un membre de notre équipe vous recontactera dès que possible. [Facebook]<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjYzOWQwMzY3LTgxZTA…> [Twitter]<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6IjY4NjlkOWQwLTlmNzU…> [Instagram]<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImZjM2EyNGI2LWI3Nzg…> [LinkedIn]<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImZlYzdhYWQ2LWE2MjA…> [YouTube]<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImY2MTA1NjYzLTk2ZGI…> This email was sent by: Trans Canada Trail 150 Elgin Street, 8th Fl, suite 1053 Ottawa, ON, K2P 1L4, CA Copyright © 2026 Trans Canada Trail, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. To update your preferences or to unsubscribe, click here.<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6ImU3NDk3NTJmLWZiMGE…> Update Profile<https://click.communications.tctrail.ca/profile_center.aspx?qs=eyJkZWtJZCI6…>

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WFP: Driver admits guilt for crash that killed two cyclists on Kenaston (Feb6'26)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Feb '26

06 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Driver admits guilt for crash that killed two cyclists on Kenaston https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/02/06/driver-admits-gui… A Winnipeg man has admitted responsibility for a drunk driving crash that killed two cyclists on Kenaston Boulevard last summer. Kuldeep Singh Gill pleaded guilty in court Friday to two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of failing to stop at the scene of a collision. Gill was arrested Sept. 13 after a high-speed crash that killed 25-year-old Kerry Ashley Bonner and her common-law partner, 31-year-old Egor Popov. The couple had a young child. Gill, who has permanent resident status in Canada, sat beside a Punjabi interpreter as he responded in a barely audible voice to a series of questions by defence lawyer Jesse Brar in which he confirmed he was aware of the consequences of his guilty pleas. The 46-year-old, who remains free on bail, will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report. Brar said Gill faces a “significant” penitentiary sentence and deportation proceedings. Court was told Gill had consumed an “unknown amount” of alcohol while driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck along Kenaston Boulevard. Witnesses had already called police to report the vehicle driving erratically when Gill veered around slower moving traffic and onto the paved shoulder at the intersection of Enterprise Drive. Gill was still driving on the paved shoulder when he crashed into Bonner and Popov on their bicycles at approximately 9:15 p.m. Popov was pronounced dead at the scene while Bonner died in hospital a short time later. Gill, who had abandoned his vehicle and ran away, was arrested shortly before 11 p.m. as he walked in the area of Kenaston Boulevard and Scurfield Boulevard. “Police immediately observed indicia of intoxication” Crown attorney Mike Himmelman told court, reading from an agreed statement of facts. Gill provided a breath sample and his blood-alcohol level was estimated to be as high as .137 at the time of the collision. Criminal charges are triggered for drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher. Police analyzed location data on Gill’s phone, which showed he had been in the vicinity of a Keewatin Street Liquor Mart earlier that afternoon. A review of security video at the store confirmed Gill had bought a bottle of 5-Star whiskey at the store. “A partially consumed bottle of the same whiskey was located post-collision in (Gill’s) vehicle’s centre console,” Himmelman said. An analysis of the truck’s crash data revealed Gill had been driving 131 km/h at the point of impact, which is 51 kilometres over the posted speed limit. Following the deaths, Bike Winnipeg released a statement in which it said the site of the crash isn’t safe. “This devastating incident highlights a long-standing and dangerous reality: Kenaston Boulevard between Sterling Lyon and McGillivray Boulevard lacks safe infrastructure for people walking and cycling, forcing vulnerable road users onto an unprotected shoulder.” A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $10,000 to help the Popov family pay for funeral expenses. The tragedy wasn’t Gill’s first arrest for impaired driving. In July 2016, Gill was driving a Jeep Wrangler at a high speed in a residential area when he drove onto a boulevard, struck a school zone sign and crashed into a tree before coming to a stop on a resident’s front lawn. Gill tried to run away, but was followed by witnesses until police arrived and arrested him. He later pleaded guilty to driving over .08 and was fined $1,500 and prohibited from driving for one year. In 2020, Gill was convicted of failing to comply with licence restrictions after driving without a licence and driving while suspended. dean.pritchard(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP OpEd: Creating a city where kids can safely walk, bike to school (Feb6'26)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Feb '26

06 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Creating a city where kids can safely walk, bike to school MEL MARGINET https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/02/06/creating-a-ci… IF there’s one thing that all Winnipeggers can agree on, other than potholes, it’s the chaos of getting kids to and from school. The frustration extends to households without children who live a short distance to local schools and must deal with traffic jams twice a day. Coun. Markus Chambers brought the fury of his ward residents into the public eye in early January when he made the first moves on a “stopdrop- go” motion to limit parking to one minute in designated school zones. How did we get here? Local news outlets asked on their social media for stories from Winnipeggers about their school travel experiences. Comments flowed in about childhoods spent walking and biking to school with friends, and how that has been replaced with door-to-door drives. Meanwhile, MPI reported in October that 36 kids were hit by drivers in the last year. So what changed in the last few decades? First, there are far more vehicles on our roads, and those vehicles are much bigger and heavier than cars of the past. Second, we’ve allowed our municipalities to essentially engineer a meaningful walk out of the lives of the majority of people, with residential neighbourhoods spread out further and further from facilities. Finally, we have few, if any, municipal policies to discourage the door-to-door school drop. Instead, parents who do encourage their kids to walk or bike to school share stories of social norms that make them feel like bad parents for allowing their kids to partake in the “risky” activity of biking or walking to school. Honestly, if we’ve created neighbourhoods where independent, active travel to and from school is likened to childhood endangerment, we truly have lost our way. How do we fix this? While the councillor’s motion to limit drop offs to one minute is well-intentioned, it is a Band-Aid, not a solution. It treats the symptom while offering no cure. This strategy does nothing to reduce traffic levels — it would actually add more stress (assuming there’s even a way to meaningfully enforce this rule). However, there are time-tested solutions to encourage active and safer travel to school that we can and should implement. There is no single magic action that city staff can undertake; rather, we need to do a lot of little things better all at once. Here are a few places we can start. Speed. We can’t force vehicle manufacturers to make vehicles with fewer blind spots and less weight. In fact, this problem is only going to get worse as we see more electric vehicles, which are much heavier. If you can’t control the size or the weight of the vehicle, what can the municipality control? The speed. Fifty km/h kills, 30 km/h means those involved in a collision will likely walk away. That’s not an opinion, that’s physics. Winnipeg has had a “safe speed” report in the works for close to two years now, and it’s time we see the results and start calming our residential streets. Design. This follows on the heels of speed. Wide, straight roads encourage speeding. Narrow roads around schools would provide the mental cues to drivers to slow down. This can be quickly implemented and tested with some planters or other fun designs. City councillors could work with schools in their wards to apply this before the end of the school year. Connection. If children can’t get from their homes to their school without having to interact with traffic, how do we expect the adults in their lives to feel safe letting them get to school independently? Whether it’s missing sidewalks or lack of protected bike lanes, we need to close these gaps. This also doesn’t have to be expensive, again using the idea of planters to create space on the road for bikes. Moving forward, new developments should include a strong focus on design that encourages residents to easily and safely walk or bike to common destinations in their neighbourhood, such as schools. And no, being able to walk around a retention pond is not walkability. More vibrant and active communities translate into more people and more “eyes on the street,” which helps to address the “stranger danger” fears. Health. We need to get serious about creating safe neighbourhoods for our kids to walk and bike in for more urgent reasons other than solving traffic chaos. With more driving and less walking, we know that kids are no longer getting the recommended activity they need each day. The sad reality is the amount of physical movement they need is often equivalent to the amount of time it would take for most kids to walk to school. Whether it’s asthma, anxiety, obesity, air quality or the myriad of issues that result from a sedentary lifestyle, we can solve many of them by ensuring that walking to school, the community centre, the grocery store and the park is possible in our neighbourhoods. As children age into tweens and teens, the need for independence grows. Having to rely on rides to access activities, first jobs or just hanging out with friends creates unnecessary stress on families. Parents are forced to do the driving or plan the rides, and the kids lose out on the opportunity to be more independent. Who has the happiest kids in the world? The Dutch. Kids in the Netherlands have the freedom of movement kids in our city can only dream of. It hasn’t always been this way. In the 1970s, death and injury to children was on the rise in the car-clogged country and parents had enough. A “Stop de Kindermoord” (Stop Murdering Children) campaign was launched. This coincided with the government looking at their balance sheets and realizing the infrastructure needed to move most people by vehicle was going to bankrupt them. Change wasn’t easy, but 40 years later they are enjoying the fruits of coming through a frustrating time focused on changing their transportation system for the better. They have made many, many (many) changes, big and small, to get to the top of the 2025 UNICEF Report for happy kids. This is probably the point in the article where you might be thinking “well, but winter ...” I encourage us to stop using winter as a reason for dallying on strategies to move conveniently and safely without a personal vehicle. Plenty of winter cities around the world have found a way. In Oulu, Finland, thousands of kids bike to school in the depths of winter. Montreal has also made great leaps to tackle their ice and snow. Let’s move on from this excuse. It’s time for us adults to do the work and give kids in Winnipeg the chance to move freely, safely and happily here, too. Mel Marginet is part of the sustainable transportation team at Green Action Centre and she’s the publisher at Great Plains Press, which publishes The City Project.

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WFP: Without key data, transit plan lacked direction (F
by Beth McKechnie 05 Feb '26

05 Feb '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Without key data, transit plan lacked direction Tech problems meant city ill-equipped to make necessary adjustments to new network https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/02/04/without-key-gps-d… FOR the first six months after Winnipeg Transit’s $20.4-million network overhaul, city officials had little information to assess how well the new system was working. The city’s data had been plagued by a faulty GPS tracking system that left major gaps in the first four months of ridership and performance numbers, which prevented Winnipeg transit from making significant adjustments to the network. Flaws in the vision meant to rekindle the city’s relationship with transit have been widely reported — ridership is down, service hours are shorter and passengers are so underwhelmed, some users, in rare cases, have reportedly bought cars for the first time. Instead of encouraging more Winnipeggers onto the bus, the system appears to be driving users away. The Free Press/Narwhal set out to understand when and why ridership was lagging. While the independent analysis showed declines on weeknights and weekends are far steeper than previously reported, transit officials warned the city’s publicly available figures are unreliable. The city’s own data analysis, which estimates daily ridership based on sensors installed on about 20 per cent of the buses, shows the average weekday passengers dropped nearly 14 per cent this fall compared to a year ago, and is expected to result in a $8.5-million hit to fare revenue this year. Bjorn Radstrom, manager of service development for Winnipeg Transit, said the problem with transit’s GPS system — which was not resolved until early November — meant the city was missing reliable information from September and October, the busiest months of the year, leaving him “leery to draw any solid conclusions” from the numbers. “The GPS problem has tied our hands far more than people realize,” Radstrom said. The lack of information is problematic, particularly during the early stages of an overhaul, Orly Linovski, an associate professor of city planning at the University of Manitoba, said. “It’s impossible to make evidence-informed decisions if we don’t have the evidence,” Linovski said. Passenger counts are one of several metrics transit planners use to evaluate whether the network is working as intended, identify problem areas and make future adjustments. In the wake of what Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham had called the “most significant change to transit” in the city’s history, a lack of reliable ridership numbers and on-time performance data made planning decisions more challenging, Radstrom said. Still, “we do know ridership has dropped,” he said. “There’s no question.” Between September and December 2025, approximately 178,500 people boarded a bus every weekday, down 14 per cent from just over 207,000 the year prior. But according to the Free Press/Narwhal analysis, ridership appears to decline more steeply after students and rush-hour commuters get home. Passenger counts decreased 23 per cent during the evening hours (6:30-10:30 p.m.), while nighttime ridership (after 10:30 p.m.) dropped nearly 40 per cent. Weekend drops were even more dramatic, prompting surprise from Radstrom. While he later confirmed the Free Press/Narwhal’s calculations were correct based on the publicly available passenger counts, he stressed the city’s data was unreliable. The city only sampled about half the number of trips it normally would on Saturdays and Sundays, meaning the counts are more likely to be inaccurate, he explained, and are based almost exclusively on November and December, when ridership starts a seasonal tail-off. Based on data from the tap-to-ride (Peggo) fare system and ticket sales, Winnipeg Transit calculated ridership dropped 22 per cent on Saturdays and 18 per cent on Sundays. Those drops are each about 50 percentage points lower than the numbers in the city’s publicly available database — further demonstrating a marked disparity between datasets. As part of the network redesign, transit reduced late-night operating hours. As a result, the Free Press/Narwhal analysis found, the number of nighttime bus trips across the city dropped 22 per cent on weekday evenings and nearly 50 per cent on weekday nights. The nighttime service cuts were widely criticized by riders, prompting the city to extend hours for its on-demand service. In the spring, it plans to juggle some route schedules to extend service until after midnight. “We wanted to start doing this in September with the summer data, but we didn’t have it because of GPS problems,” he said. “We also wanted to start doing it earlier with fall data, but we didn’t have it.” It’s only in recent weeks Radstrom and other planners have been able to “dig in” and plan adjustments for spring. Radstrom said transit wants to “demonstrate some actual progress” when April’s schedule is released, and will be able to “do a few really good things … but not as much as if we’d had all the data for the full amount of time we wanted it.” On Wednesday, transit delivered an unplanned verbal report to the public works committee acknowledging the GPS issues have now been resolved to within one per cent of baseline error levels. Linovski said the city needs more than just numbers to assess how well the new network is performing. “(Ridership data) gives us no information about why people are taking transit or not taking transit. It gives us no information about what their experience is like on transit,” she said, suggesting surveying users and non-users would help form a clearer picture. “Service really needs to improve if you’re going to switch people over to transit.” A 2018 study by the Canadian Urban Transit Association has determined a 10 per cent increase in hours a bus is on the road (called vehicle revenue hours) leads to a 10 per cent increase in ridership. The association also found that a 10 per cent increase to operating budgets translates to a 5.5 per cent increase in revenue hours, even when the costs of labour, fuel and maintenance are factored in. Despite steadily increasing its operating budget and allocating more property tax dollars to Winnipeg transit since 2020, it is underfunded compared to agencies across the country. In late January, James Van Gerwen, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, which represents transit operators, was one of several public advocacy group representatives to call on the province to increase climate funding in its upcoming budget. Van Gerwen advocated specifically for the province to restore a 50-50 transit funding partnership with the City of Winnipeg that was cut in 2016. Since then, the Manitoba government has provided about $42 million to Winnipeg Transit every year. But as transit’s operating budget has grown, the province’s share of the costs has shrunk to just 15 per cent. Van Gerwen is confident “the ridership will be there” with a properly funded system that can commit to expanded service, more safety and more reliability. Radstrom is on the same page. He expected some people to stop riding the bus as service changed, but that ridership would recover as new users realized there is “better, more frequent service closer to them,” he said. A healthier budget would allow him to implement the changes needed to make the system convenient for more riders, he said. julia-simone.rutgers(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca>

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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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WFP: Highway Traffic Act amendment in effect Jan 1 - sets out rules for drivers when passing cyclists (Jan3'26)
by Beth McKechnie 03 Jan '26

03 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ACT AMENDMENT IN EFFECT A LAW passed last spring to protect highway workers and people on Manitoba roads came into force Jan. 1. The Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Traffic Safety Measures) sets out rules for drivers when passing cyclists and winter maintenance vehicles. Tow-truck drivers and roadside assistance operators can now place cones and signs to alert drivers and divert traffic from work zones. Drivers approaching or passing snowplows with blue warning lights activated must stay back 30 metres on roads with an 80 km/h speed limit or lower, and 100 metres on roads with a speed limit above 80 km/h. Drivers must not pass if the view ahead is obstructed or passing risks interfering with the vehicle or work. The law also requires a safe passing distance for cyclists. Drivers must leave at least one metre of space when passing — a requirement already in place in other provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario.

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WFP: Giving pedestrians a head start on vehicles improves safety, has no effect on traffic, city finds (Jan2'25)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Jan '26

02 Jan '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Giving pedestrians a head start on vehicles improves safety, has no effect on traffic, city finds https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/01/02/giving-pedestrian… City staff are giving pedestrian head starts at downtown intersections the green light, and are working to expand the safety measure to locations further from the core. The four- to six-second delay for vehicles waiting at red lights — referred to as leading pedestrian intervals — were installed at 91 of downtown’s 111 intersections in March; 65 per cent at all four corners and the rest at two. In a report that will be presented to city council’s public works committee Thursday, David Patman, the city’s manager of transportation planning, said analyzing video taken at 10 of the intersections, both before and after the interval was implemented, found a “reduction in conflict rate” between pedestrians and drivers. “This lead time allowed pedestrians to establish themselves in the intersection and become more visible to drivers,” Patman wrote in the report, which was published online Friday. “It resulted in an increased time gap between conflicting vehicles and crossing pedestrians.” The initiative also found “no significant changes” to traffic congestion downtown as a result of the short delay. City staff are in the process of deciding how many of Winnipeg’s approximately 560 signals outside of downtown should have the interval installed. Patman said they are considering the level of risk and possible safety improvements, using factors, including the volume of crossings by people on foot, and the proximity to schools, hospitals, senior facilities and major transit stops, among others. “Candidate locations should be carefully selected to ensure that safety benefits can be achieved without adding unnecessary delay to high-volume Winnipeg roads,” said Patman. Public works chair Janice Lukes said expanding the project is a no-brainer. “I love it, because it’s virtually no cost other than the staff figuring out where to do it, and then we just change the timing of the lights in the central station,” she said Friday. Lukes said it’s important for historically dangerous streets for pedestrians be prioritized. “When you look at the map that is in the transportation master plan, streets like McPhillips (have) all these dots of collisions,” she said. The report said staff will consider safety studies, pedestrian volume and area with higher rates of poverty when deciding which streets to prioritize. Some signals, like those on Goulet and Marion streets, have upcoming reviews already planned, and will receive the new timing during those reviews. There is no added cost to implement leading pedestrian intervals and takes about 90 minutes per signal using existing staff. The project will be carried out over the next five years, with 60-75 new leading pedestrian intervals installed yearly. Approximately 275 pedestrians were involved in vehicle accidents downtown, including 13 that resulted in major injuries and eight in fatalities from 2015 to 2022. The Winnipeg Police Service said nine pedestrians died last year after being hit by vehicles. In total, there were 17 fatal crashes. Hillary Rosentreter, an advocate for safety improvements on Winnipeg streets, said she’s noticed a significant difference when walking or cycling across downtown since the leading pedestrian intervals were introduced. “You’re able to get yourself into a position where you’re most of the way through the intersection, or at the very least, extremely visible before drivers are even meant to start moving,” she said. “Visibility is a big factor in safety.” She’d like the expansion of the project reach as many streets as possible. “It’s been nice to see… I think they benefit most (in) obviously heavily pedestrianized areas, but would be valuable everywhere that people walk, so anywhere that there’s a sidewalk, basically,” she said. malak.abas(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP OpEd: We need more Wellington Crescent bike lanes (Dec30'25)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Dec '25

30 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. We need more Wellington Crescent bike lanes KELE SCHRECKENBACH https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/12/30/we-need-more-… AT the beginning of November, the City of Winnipeg announced an initiative to add a temporary bike lane to Wellington Crescent. It will stretch across the entirety of the street, and will, of course, require modifications to how parking and driving work, as well as having the speed limit reduced to 40 km/h. The plan, the city says, is to have these temporary measures in place until the funding can be found for a more permanent solution to be installed. This is a great step for the city to take, and installing this bike lane (and hopefully others like it in the future) will have major benefits for both the city and residents. One of the most obvious benefits is safety. I imagine most people reading this are aware of Rob Jenner, the cyclist who died in a tragic collision with a reckless driver. By adding a protected bike lane (again, ideally not just here but on many other streets as well), we make it safer for cyclists and help to prevent more awful deaths like his from occurring. By reducing the speed limit, it’s also safer for drivers. It’s just common sense: driving more slowly gives more time to react, reducing the chance of a collision. If a collision does occur, it’s at slower speeds, so it has less chance of being fatal. Another benefit is for the residents along Wellington Crescent. It has been proven in other cities that when proper protected bike lanes are installed, more people are willing to cycle. For the residents, this means fewer car trips passing by their house, leading to a quieter street and a quieter life overall. Finally, there’s having the option to not have to drive. No one is saying that the residents aren’t allowed to drive if they want to do so. However, if their car breaks down, or if a trip they need to take (like to the grocery store) is short enough that they don’t need to take the car, or they don’t want to use their car for some other reason, this gives them a different option they can use. Let’s look more closely at a group that benefits from the bike lane, which might seem unintuitive to some people at first glance: drivers. They might look at this proposal and think this will worsen their experience, and I can totally see where they’re coming from. For example, losing a lane (or at least part of a lane) and getting the speed limit lowered might seem very inconvenient. However, the complete opposite is true. By making life better for cyclists, the bike lane entices more people to cycle, leading to less cars on the road. This leads to less time waiting at red lights for drivers, less chance of being blocked by someone needing to make a turn, and just generally more time spent getting where you need to go instead of idling. The cyclists will also be in the bike lane, and not on the street, slowing down the cars behind them, as sometimes happens (to be clear, this is not blaming the cyclists in any way; often they simply don’t have a choice but to go on the road). In short, it leads to fewer impediments and more time spent driving for drivers. On top of all that, there is of course the safety element mentioned earlier. Fewer cars on the road means fewer collisions and potential fatalities. I would like to also address a few other concerns that people may have about the bike lane. A common one that comes up when building bike lanes: the loss of parking. People get worried that spots will be lost due to the bike lane. First and foremost, the city did already do some public consultation, so they will likely try to minimize the impact the best they can. But more importantly, as mentioned previously there will be fewer people driving. Guess what that means? Less competition for parking spots. Another common worry is that the bike lanes will be unusable in winter for a variety of reasons: it’s too cold, too slippery/icy, too unpleasant. While winter biking is not for everyone, that should not be a reason to not build the bike lane. With proper support from the city (properly plowing the lane comes to mind), bike lanes are more than feasible to use, even for people who might not want to use it in incredibly cold temperatures. As stated, this is a great thing for Winnipeg to be doing. Other Canadian cities such as Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal are already making great strides by adding bike lanes, and I would love a future where our city gets mentioned among the great cities of Canada, like the ones I’ve just mentioned. Let’s get this bike lane built and get started towards creating that future. Kele Schreckenbach is a student at the University of Manitoba who has an interest in urban planning and city design.

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WFP OpEd: Winnipeg Transit: imperfect, but indispensable (Dec29'25)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Dec '25

29 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Winnipeg Transit: imperfect, but indispensable ADAM JOHNSTON https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/12/29/winnipeg-tran… ANOTHER cold morning finds Winnipeg riders shivering at bus stops — delayed buses crawling past, full buses passing them by, safety concerns lingering and fares climbing higher. Yet thousands still depend on transit to reach jobs, classes, recreation and volunteer commitments. As 2025 closes, Winnipeg Transit faces mounting challenges. Revitalizing public transportation is not optional — it is essential. Transit is a public good, the backbone of equity, climate action and economic vitality. Sustained investment and bold support are critical to ensure it serves those who rely on it most. Bus safety is a major concern. Violence has surged — up 281 per cent between 2016 and 2024. Headlines of machetes and air pistols fuel further fear. Mayor Scott Gillingham’s community safety officers, launched in 2024, were meant to reassure riders. Yet with limited authority and risks of racial profiling of Indigenous and racialized riders, results have been underwhelming: 325 violent incidents were reported in 2024 alone. Meanwhile, the new Primary Transit Network promised better service but delivered cuts. Despite some improvements, late-night service was slashed, hitting low-income neighbourhoods hard. Affordability compounds the crisis. Adult fares will climb to $3.45 next year, while Peggo and WINNpass add unnecessary red tape. Around 90 per cent of violent incidents on Winnipeg Transit involve fare disputes — proof rising costs fuel conflict. Trust is collapsing. A 2025 City of Winnipeg survey shows satisfaction with Winnipeg Transit has dropped to 48 per cent, alongside falling ridership compared to 2024. Years of underinvestment have left the system unsafe, unreliable and unaffordable. Winnipeg deserves better. In an uncertain future, transit matters more than ever. With Winnipeg expected to reach one million residents within the next few decades, public transit safeguards the most vulnerable, giving them access to mobility. As Dan Hendry of Kingston, Ont.-based Get on the Bus noted in a November edition of Not Necessarily the Automobile Winnipeg radio show/podcast, transit gives youth access to volunteering, jobs and skill-building, which are critical for adulthood. The financial case is clear: owning a car in Manitoba costs around $12,000 annually. For many in financial crisis, transit is the only fiscally responsible option for transportation. Transit is an effective climate tool, considering nearly half of city emissions come from transportation. Expanding transit cuts emissions, eases congestion and is essential to meeting climate goals. Investment strengthens equity and community health. The Southwest Transitway, opened in 2020, improved cycling access to the University of Manitoba and Blue Bomber games, reducing isolation and connecting neighbourhoods. The choice is stark: remain car-dependent or invest in transit as a lifeline for climate, equity and resilience. Winnipeg will pay a heavy price if we cling to the status quo — or worse, revert to an outdated system that no longer meets the needs of a growing city. Public transit is not a luxury; it is a necessity on par with postal service and health care. Underinvestment in transit threatens Winnipeg’s competitiveness. Strong transit systems attract talent, making cities more vibrant. Prospective newcomers don’t ask about more roadways — they ask if they can get around without a car. Ignoring core transit problems widens inequality. Vulnerable residents — low-income families, Indigenous Peoples, racialized communities and students — depend on buses to access jobs, education, recreation and connection. Cutting service or failing to improve safety only deepens divides. Yes, frustration with Winnipeg Transit is real. But short-term anger must not push us toward greater car dependence. The real danger is derailing the investment needed to build the transit system Winnipeg deserves. Rebuilding trust is key to repairing Winnipeg Transit. Security must improve — but not through more police or community officers. While some feel safer, this heightens tension for racialized and Indigenous Peoples who lack faith in policing. As author and activist James Wilt told The Uniter in 2024, “Law enforcement is systematically racist,” warning that more officers deter riders who fear profiling. Wilt argued investment should go to wraparound supports — affordable housing, universal health care and addictions treatment — to address root causes of insecurity. Service improvements are vital. Winnipeg Transit’s Bjorn Radstrom said they made small adjustments after the rollout. Extended hours and revised scheduling for some routes were updated recently, but far more is needed — more feeder routes, buses, drivers and comfort at stops. Fare reform is equally urgent: Winnipeg Transit should cap adult fares at $2, make youth free, scrap Peggo/WINNpass and engage with riders consistently. Action is needed to restore Winnipeg Transit as a public institution. Reinstate the 50/50 provincial- municipal funding cut in 2017 to support service and lower bus fares. Citizens must step up as well: ride the bus, attend council meetings, write letters and demand transit funding over road projects like Kenaston. Groups like Functional Transit Winnipeg show what’s possible. Creation of a riders’ union, like in Toronto or Seattle, could hold city hall accountable and win real gains. Public transit is imperfect, but it’s a public good. As 2026 arrives, Winnipeg needs an efficient, safe and affordable system to meet climate goals and ensure livability for all. Adam Johnston hosts Not Necessarily the Automobile, a show on public and active transportation Thursday mornings on 101.5 UMFM. He can be reached at notnecessarilytheautomobile(a)gmail.com<mailto:notnecessarilytheautomobile@gmail.com>

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WFP: Province giving $3M to repair rail bridge at The Forks (Dec24'25)
by Beth McKechnie 24 Dec '25

24 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Province giving $3M to repair rail bridge at The Forks https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/23/manitoba-to-give-… THE Forks is celebrating new funding it says will help reopen a popular active transportation bridge. Premier Wab Kinew has promised $3 million on behalf of the Manitoba government to support a $9.3-million project to restore The Forks Historic Rail Bridge, The Forks said. “It was a nice early Christmas gift for The Forks and the people of Winnipeg,” said Adam Dooley, corporate communications director for the downtown site. The rail bridge closed due to safety concerns in 2023, while a campaign now aims to raise funds to repair it. “There was a giant counterweight built into that bridge because it was a lift bridge… to allow boat traffic to go underneath. That gigantic counterweight was starting to deteriorate and chunks of concrete were falling to the pathways below, so that’s why we had to close it,” said Dooley. While the counterweight has been removed, new decking and repairs to the steel structure are still needed to reopen the “vital” link, said Dooley. “More than 350,000 people used it annually before (it closed)… It connects the main (Forks) fort site to Niizhoziibean, which is the Indigenous historical site and cultural gathering place with great significance in our city’s history,” he said. The Forks is still seeking funding for the rest of the project, so there is no set timeline on when the bridge could reopen. “We’re hoping to have more news in the new year,” said Dooley. The provincial government confirmed the funding Tuesday afternoon. The bridge, which allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Assiniboine River from South Point Park to The Forks, closed without notice in June 2023. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga CBC coverage: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/forks-gift-manitoba-government-9.70…

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Milan Street Design Slows Cars More Than Speed Limits, Research Finds - Bloomberg
by Beth McKechnie 23 Dec '25

23 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Thanks to Ken Klassen for the share... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-15/milan-street-design-slow… There’s a Better Way to Win on Traffic Safety Backlash has undercut the success of 30km/hour speed limits. New research finds that a less controversial policy can be more effective in slowing cars. October 15, 2025 at 10:20 AM CDT Milan has faced backlash to its law capping speed limits to 30km/hour. Photographer: Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu via Getty Images In recent years, modest urban planning ideas have sparked outsized backlash. The “15-minute city” concept — designing neighborhoods so amenities are available within 15 minutes by foot or bike — became a flashpoint in conspiracy theory<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-02/how-did-the-15-minute-ci…> circles. Now, new citywide speed limits of 30 kilometers per hour are the latest target in many European cities: a sensible safety measure turned culture-war fodder. These reactions have put local and national governments at odds over policies that aim to tackle traffic safety and livability. But recent research results<https://arxiv.org/html/2507.04434v1> suggest such political battles may be beside the point: In studies we have conducted at our Senseable City Lab, we found that the posted speed limits often have little effect on how fast people drive. Instead, the policies that work involve the design of the street itself. The movement for citywide speed limits of 30 kilometers (19 miles) per hour gained visibility during Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s 2020 campaign. The logic was compelling: Slower traffic means safer streets and quieter neighborhoods. Furthermore, as our past research showed<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275122004498#:~:….>, “slow zones” attract nearly twice as many people, drawing diverse visitors and enriching the city’s social mix. Once re-elected, Hidalgo enacted the policy, and other mayors followed. From Milan to Brussels, Bologna to Amsterdam, many began testing or implementing lower-speed zones. Particularly in my home country of Italy, the backlash came quickly. To some motorists, a lower speed limit felt less like protection and more like control. In the clickbait economy, the measure was recast as suspicion of an authoritarian drift. Even our lab at MIT got pulled into the storm. In July 2024, we presented results<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5264874> on the impact of 30 km/h zones in Milan. Using real vehicle telemetry from the Italian insurance company Unipol, we were able to accurately assess changes in vehicle speed and evaluate their consequences. We found that increases in travel times were negligible — at most an average of about 34 seconds per trip — while previous research had found a decrease in fatalities of around 37%. We also found that air pollution levels remained mostly stable, with only a minimal increase. Despite the breadth of our findings, headlines in Italian news outlets focused entirely on an increase in air pollution. In fact, Italy’s Transport Minister Matteo Salvini seized on our study as “scientific evidence” that the 30 km/h policy created more traffic jams and pollution. Since making that comment, Salvini and his colleagues in Italy’s national government have worked to erode<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-09-25/bologna-s-citta-30-safet…> cities’ 30 km/h policies, imposing limits and banning the cameras used to enforce the policy in the cities that had enacted it. In response, we dug deeper. This year, we analyzed<https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04434> Milan, Amsterdam and Dubai. We gathered over 73 million telemetry points and 1.2 million street-level images. Such data is now analyzable at speed and scale thanks to AI models — a theme we are also exploring at this year’s<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-22/venice-biennale-curat…> Venice Biennale Architettura. What we found suggests something surprising: Speed limit laws aren’t actually the best way to get residents to slow down. Drivers slowed only 2–3 km/h when limits dropped from 50 to 30 km/h, while the design of the streets played a much larger role. Narrow, enclosed streets with high building density tended to slow traffic, whereas wide, open roads with long sightlines encouraged faster driving. This suggests that design, more than legislation, sets the pace. A street map of Milan shows how smaller streets had higher compliance (purple) with the 30 km/h speed limit than larger streets (pink).Courtesy of MIT’s There are likely a few explanations for this. In many countries, particularly Italy, speed limits are considered merely a suggestion, meaning that legal changes won’t usher in cultural ones. Milan and Bologna, where speed cameras were eventually banned, offer clear examples of how difficult it can be to rely solely on punitive measures — even when noncompliance is widespread. Street configuration, by contrast, can change behavior in more palatable ways. Urbanists have long intuited<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-06/why-12-foot-traffic-lane…> that design can moderate traffic speed<https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/11/13/study-12-ft-lanes-are-deadlier-than-…>. With the first large-scale, cross-city uses of AI, those insights can be quantified and generalized across different contexts. Raised crosswalks, narrower lanes, or tree-lined streets are examples of the kinds of design interventions our model takes into account. In short, our model can now predict how fast people are likely to drive just from street imagery, offering urban planners a predictive tool to assess the impact of different design interventions. The MIT study focused on parts of Amsterdam where cyclists dominate traffic flow.Photographer: Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images Applying our method across Milan, Amsterdam and Dubai showed how local context matters. In Milan, with UNIPOL, we studied traditional, mixed-use streets — compact urban corridors where drivers, cyclists and pedestrians share space. In Amsterdam, with the AMS Institute, we analyzed a cycling-first network — areas where bikes dominate traffic flows and car access is secondary, offering insights into how multimodal coexistence shapes speed. In Dubai, working with the Dubai Future Foundation, we tested car-centric streets under extreme heat. There, we found that heat itself can reduce average driving speeds by up to several km/h, showing how environmental stressors can influence behavior even in the absence of formal design interventions. These examples show how street geometry — but also culture and climate — shape how people drive, often more than regulations do. To be sure, changes to street design are not without controversy: Attempts to add bike lanes<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-27/why-does-ontario-want-to…> and pedestrian spaces or reduce road space dedicated to cars have faced pushback, too<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-22/trump-cancels-trail-bike…>. Still, our results may offer comfort to both sides of the political spectrum. Changing how people drive cannot be achieved by decree alone. But there is no grand conspiracy at work: It may depend, above all, on the configuration of our streets. Carlo Ratti is a practicing architect and a professor at the Politecnico di Milano and at MIT, where he directs the Senseable City Lab. In 2025 he’s directing Venice’s Biennale Architettura.

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WFP: ‘It’s really defeating’: Transit pass-ups up from last year (Dec23'25)
by Beth McKechnie 23 Dec '25

23 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. City vows adjustments to decrease buses passing by riders ‘It’s really defeating’: Transit pass-ups up from last year https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/22/its-really-defeat… RYAN Nother says showing up at the bus stop on time has repeatedly failed to secure him a ride home. That’s because F6 buses regularly pass by the stop at Osborne and Mulvey, already full of passengers, when he’s trying to return home from work, Nother said. “It’s really defeating. It feels like you can tolerate it from time to time. But, when it happens so frequently, it feels like no one cares and they’re not trying to fix it,” he said. On some occasions, two or more consecutive buses have passed by the stop while leaving passengers waiting, making the additional wait futile, he said. He says his family is now paying hundreds of dollars more each month for ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, to complete their commutes, and reluctantly planning to buy a vehicle. “It’s not something we were looking forward to doing. It’s not an expense that we really need. (Transit is) just not something we can rely on anymore,” said Nother. The number of full Winnipeg buses that pass by waiting riders grew this fall. Between September and November, there were 6,971 pass-ups, compared to 5,779 during the same period last year. The overall number is down from what riders experienced during the year prior to the pandemic, when 8,297 pass-ups took place during the same stretch of 2019. Nother said he noticed a significant increase in pass-ups at his stop after a new primary transit network took effect June 29, which overhauled virtually every local route. “Prior to that, it would be a very rare occasion when it would happen. It seems like there are more buses scheduled (now) but they’re not successful in actually appearing (and picking up passengers),” said Nother. “With the winter temperatures, I’m not willing to wait 40 minutes for another bus to maybe come.” The recent pass-up increase is related to this year’s return to 100 per cent service levels on Transit routes, after service was reduced during the pandemic, according to the head of the union for Winnipeg Transit drivers. “We were still on a reduced service (last year) so it’s difficult to assess (the trend). Obviously, every person passed up is bad for the service. You don’t ever want to leave anybody behind,” said Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505. He said passing by riders is stressful for drivers, who are typically the first to receive complaints about the practice. “Every time a bus is full and can’t pick up people, there’s a potential for an escalating confrontation with the (driver of the) next bus that is able to take on that passenger or passengers that are missed,” said Scott. Transit data shows the number of pass-ups typically rises in September, when more people return to their fall routines and tend to ride buses during peak periods. The service also notes ridership has seen a general, gradual recovery after plummeting during the pandemic. Earlier this month, however, Transit noted ridership slipped to 89 per cent of 2019 levels by Nov. 30, down from 95 per cent of that amount throughout 2024. A Transit official said service changes are underway that aim to reduce the number of pass-ups as much as possible, including by shifting resources to the busiest routes. “Pass-ups are obviously something we don’t like having so… we already are making adjustments to try to deal with that,” said Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit’s manager of service development. The changes include swapping regular and articulated buses between routes based on passenger counts, since a 40-foot bus can seat 38 people and an articulated (bendy) bus can seat 65. Transit’s winter schedule took effect Dec. 14, bringing in some tweaks, said Radstrom. Transit will also try to educate riders to ensure they choose the most efficient routes they can. Many passengers still choose routes similar to ones they rode before the network overhaul, instead of the most efficient current options, which can create unexpected crowding, said Radstrom. “Some of this still does have to do with the learning curve that people are having with the new network… a lot of people, instead of planning a trip using Navigo or the Transit app or calling 311 for some help, they’ll just walk to the usual bus stop that they’re used to… they end up taking the bus that’s least suited to them, that could be one of the more crowded buses,” he said. For example, he said many riders still take Blue Line buses to leave University of Manitoba, even though there are better routes available to reach their destinations. Radstrom said some increase in passups was expected as riders learn the new network. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said it’s positive that the number of pass-ups remains below pre-pandemic levels, though she understands every missed bus causes frustration for riders. “Pass-ups are concerning, period,” said Lukes (Waverley West). The city has ordered 30 more buses, including some larger, articulated ones, which should offer some relief when they arrive in January, she said. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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$3M Forks Historic Rail Bridge Investment by Province
by Beth McKechnie 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. From: The Forks Foundation <foundation(a)theforks.com<mailto:foundation@theforks.com>> Date: Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM [https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=a8750c52-08d9-4670-b5ce-f3b3da9c9e06…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/fe0c2cbe901/8a9d99fa-28ae-4841-a1d7-dc2f9…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/fe0c2cbe901/0a6a3ce2-897d-4845-8b42-35750…] Thank you to the Government of Manitoba! Today, Premier Wab Kinew announced a $3 million investment to revitalize The Forks Historic Rail Bridge. This is the first step toward reopening this active transportation corridor and connection to Niizhoziibean, which features stunning public art and the first wiigwaam within city limits in more than a century. This commitment is especially meaningful now, as we look to open the Nestaweya River Trail – which runs under the bridge - in the days ahead. (The on-land trails opened last week, and the river trail won't be far behind.) The Forks Historic Rail Bridge has been closed since 2023 for safety reasons, and we look forward to reopening it as soon as possible. More than 250,000 people used this bridge as a part of their active transportation route each year. This investment will help restore access to a well-loved part of downtown that many Manitobans use and care about. The restoration is a $9.3 million project, and we invite everyone to contribute. To find out more, https://www.theforks.com/support/historic-rail-bridge. <https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HpiTiiEVfxxp76g6wSpf1Mqt3oA3NDLIHO…> Thanks to Global News and CJOB for reporting on this. Stay warm, [Instagram]<https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HpiTiiEVfxxp76g6wSpf1Mqt3oA3NDLIHO…> [Web] <https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HpiTiiEVfxxp76g6wSpf1Mqt3oA3NDLIHO…> [Facebook] <https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HpiTiiEVfxxp76g6wSpf1Mqt3oA3NDLIHO…> [Email] <mailto:foundation@theforks.com> [YouTube] <https://phqf7vhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HpiTiiEVfxxp76g6wSpf1Mqt3oA3NDLIHO…> The Forks Foundation | 130-123 Main Street | Winnipeg, MB R3C 1A3 CA

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WFP: Santa, cyclists brave nasty weather to spread cheer (Dec20'25)
by Beth McKechnie 20 Dec '25

20 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Santa, cyclists brave nasty weather to spread cheer https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/19/santa-other-cycli… THE weather was frightful — at times undeniably dangerous for cycling on city streets — but that didn’t stop more than a dozen riders from braving heavy snowfall and blustery winds for the 14th annual Cycle with Santa on Friday. Equipped with thick tires built for winter riding, goggles to shield their eyes from blowing snow and dressed in an array of festive Christmas outfits, the cyclists pedalled through Winnipeg’s inner city with more than 1,000 pieces of clothing strapped to their backs, delivering warmth and cheer to those in need. Event organizer Kerry LeBlanc donned his best Santa Claus suit to lead the pack as they rode through the city searching for people who could use a lift in spirit — or supplies. “Cycling with Santa is just going for a ride out in the community and trying to bring some love and joy to the streets through humour, through just riding our bicycles,” LeBlanc said. “It originated with me just going for a ride one year, wearing a Santa suit, and it’s grown to a 14-year now annual event, where we have as many as 25 riders come out and understand the need for joy and love in the streets at this time of year.” LeBlanc was adamant that the event would go ahead, snow or shine. “We’re going to be out on the road for 90 minutes,” he said. “The folks that we visit, the charities are doing it every day, 24-7. We think it’s a little bit of a challenge for us for 90 minutes, but just think of our people living in the streets every day, and the charity groups that are working in the homeless sector every day fighting the fight.” This year, the Brothers of the Fork crew — a casual group of philanthropic cyclists and humanitarians — also came bearing cash. The group donated $20,000 to five charities, including Resource Assistance for Youth Inc. and Inner City Youth Alive, which received their donations during a small gathering at True North Square before riders set out. “We’ve got plenty of youth that are sleeping outdoors,” said Kate Sjoberg, CEO of RaY Inc. “We don’t have enough housing in the city for the folks that really need it. “This is going to continue to be an issue for a little bit longer, and it’s really our privilege to work with people every day who know how to survive and trust us enough to help them a little bit along the way here and there.” Victoria, a young woman who accessed RaY more than a year ago while experiencing homelessness, said the organization has played a crucial role in her life. “RaY’s helped me quite a bit and not just in finding a new home, but getting to be more out there and more socialized, and I always feel like I have a safe place to go when I need to,” she said. “There’s counselling. There are people I can talk to, and the best part is they make me friends. So it makes me feel included, and I feel safe.” From True North Square, riders made stops at city hall and Centennial Concert Hall before heading to N’Dinawemak, their first major destination of the afternoon. “Every shelter has a closing time for cleaning, and people get stuck out on the street for that hour to hour and a half every single day,” said Nicholas Candaele, one of the N’Dinawemak directors. “So, what Kerry and his crew is doing out there is amazing. It’s really showing effort… and what our relatives go through every single day.” Each night during the winter months, roughly 200 people access N’Dinawemak’s Disraeli Freeway shelter, with daytime numbers more than doubling as people arrive for meals, outreach and other services. Those inside the building Friday received an added boost of holiday cheer, as the Downtown Community Safety Partnership dropped off dozens of blue backpacks filled with treats and essential winter clothing. “It’s never too much,” Candaele said. “We also get quite a bit of backlog stuff for the rest of the winter, which is awesome.” scott.billeck(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Judge convicts man who switched seats with driver after collision that killed cyclist (Dec19'25)
by Beth McKechnie 19 Dec '25

19 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Judge convicts man who switched seats with driver after collision that killed cyclist https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/19/judge-decides-pas… A Winnipeg man who admitted taking the driver’s seat following a high-speed collision that killed cyclist Rob Jenner has been found guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Lyle Barker-Young, 19, remains free on bail and will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report. Co-accused Beckham Severight, 20, was behind the driver’s seat of Barker-Young’s leased 2013 BMW sedan the morning of June 6, 2024, racing along Wellington Crescent when he rounded a curve near the intersection at Cockburn Street and collided with Jenner, who was cycling to work in the same lane. Police arrested the two roommates at their Elmwood apartment later that day. In a police statement, Barker-Young said he told Severight to keep driving after hitting Jenner. They drove a short distance, pulled over and switched seats before Barker-Young drove away without checking on the 61-year-old critically injured cyclist. “The comments Mr. Barker-Young made in his statement… support that (he) would have known this was a violent collision that must have resulted in at least bodily harm to the cyclist,” provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson said Friday, reading from a 24-page decision. Severight had only a learner’s permit. Barker-Young had a valid licence and accompanied Severight but did not qualify as a supervising driver. “So (the collision) happened and (Severight) didn’t know what to do,” Barker-Young told police. “Told him to keep driving up a bit. We stopped and I told him to get out and we switched… ’cause I knew he couldn’t f—king drive anymore.… It was my idea to go.” Prior to the collision, “we were going too much… like, we were going fast, like, too fast,” Barker-Young, said. Witnesses in the area at the time said they heard a loud bang and saw Jenner fly three metres into the air before landing on the ground. Witnesses said the car did not slow down or stop after hitting Jenner. One witness estimated the BMW was travelling 120 km/h when it hit Jenner, which would have been 70 km/h over the speed limit. Defence lawyers Debbie Buors and Melissa Serbin argued Barker-Young could not be convicted of leaving the scene of an accident because the offence was complete when Severight continued driving after hitting Jenner. By that time, any subsequent direction from Barker-Young to Severight to keep driving was too late to be considered aiding or abetting the offence, they said. That argument “imposes a narrow and artificial time limit on the decision not to stop that is not present or contemplated by (the Criminal Code),” Carlson said. “Mr. Barker-Young’s comments (to police) are consistent with him getting into the driver’s seat a short distance from the collision site,” she said. “Once he took over driving, he could have returned to the scene, stopped, provide particulars and rendered assistance. He did not.” Jenner’s death sent shock waves through the city’s cycling community and led to calls to reduce the speed limit along Wellington Crescent between River Avenue and Academy Road to 30 km/h. Severight pleaded guilty last March to dangerous driving causing death and was sentenced to three years custody. dean.pritchard(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Transit planner tacked on to 2026 budget (Dec17'25)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Help needed to streamline new bus network: mayor Transit planner tacked on to 2026 budget https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/16/epc-adds-transit-… THE mayor’s cabinet wants to hire a full-time transit planner to chart out adjustments to the controversial spine-and-feeder network that’s been the source of persistent complaints since it was rolled out in June. The executive policy committee voted Tuesday to add the permanent planner to the proposed 2026 budget. The full council must vote on it. “We knew there would be adjustments needed this (coming) year. And, so, to expedite the work that is needed to make the system better requires a transit planner. We want to give our staff the resources they need, so that citizens see the ongoing improvements,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. The network overhaul, which took effect June 29, affected virtually every local bus route. The concept includes direct spines along major corridors that are supported by a network of feeder routes throughout the city. The changes were designed to increase bus frequency on main routes, but many riders have complained they now require more transfers and much more time to reach their destinations. Some have been stranded at work or school due to reduced night-time service. In some cases, passengers have reported buying vehicles to avoid frustrating delays. The city added more late-night service to some on-request zones on Dec. 14, while the budget proposes to extend hours on some fixed routes in April. Winnipeg Transit’s On-Request operates in some areas when feeder bus routes are not in service. The mayor said the new transit planner would help guide additional changes next year. “I’m confident it was the right decision to go with the new transit network. I’m not entirely thrilled, to be honest with you, at the number of adjustments we’re having to make, but we’re making them,” said Gillingham. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee, said the new position should help speed up Transit’s response to common complaints. “We’re really happy about all the feedback we’re getting and we really want to accelerate the changes,” said Lukes (Waverley West). A transit activist said he’s pleased the city is planning ahead for additional network changes. “Having somebody in place to help ensure that the city is thinking long term and also helping recognize the urgent need for specific infrastructure is very exciting,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg. Owens said the city must add more buses and drivers to ensure its network can meet riders’ needs. “What we’re seeing is that the years of lack of investment (in the past) mean that this one change is not enough. They are going to need to offer real improvements in service and investments. The (network) changeover was emergency foundation repair,” he said. Other new additions to the city’s proposed 2026 budget aim to pursue a new crime-prevention pilot project and expand needle cleanups at parks. One would seek federal funding to support an “inter-agency crime and incident prevention pilot” project. Gillingham said that would be part of the Safe Winnipeg Initiative he announced in March, which aims to increase collaboration between safety related organizations. “I’ve talked about co-ordinating our public safety agencies to provide a blanket of safety in the downtown. Crime rates have shown a drop in the last few years in the downtown, but there’s more work we have to do,” he said. The mayor listed the Winnipeg Police Service, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, Downtown Community Safety Partnership and the Community Safety Team as agencies that could participate. Details of the project itself are still being determined, he said. EPC also wants to expand a program that clears needles, weapons, drugs and other dangerous debris from parks. City staff removed thousands of needles and more than 150 weapons from 16 “high-risk” downtown parks and green spaces between April 14 and Oct. 3 via the seasonal program, according to a recent report. An amendment would see staff clean up six additional sites two to three times per week, including Vimy Ridge Park, Jacob Penner Park, Cornish Library, Alderman John O’Hare Park, Broadway Neighbourhood Centre and the Dynasty Building, if council approves. “We have seen a significant impact (from) our needle cleanup initiative. It’s making parks safer for families,” said Gillingham. The change is expected to cost $28,200 more each season, once the program resumes next spring. Another budget amendment would ensure three temporary full-time staff continue to be devoted to the unsafe conditions response team, allowing their work to continue throughout 2026. The team, made up of bylaw officers and building inspectors, expedites the city’s response to hazardous properties, included rubble-filled sites left behind after fires. That change is expected to cost $267,000 in 2026. The city could use the revenue from vacant and derelict building fees to help fund those positions in 2027, 2028 and 2029, pending future budget approvals. City council will cast a final vote on the 2026 budget today. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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Changing Lanes | Save The Date!
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Greetings, Green Action Centre is thrilled to bring Todd Litman to Winnipeg in February 2026 for Changing Lanes: Better Value From Winnipeg Transportation Investments. This keynote address will take place on February 25th. Please save the date! [Speaker Event Save the Date.jpg] Changing Lanes: Better Value From Winnipeg Transportation Investments with Todd Litman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute North American cities are trapped in a wasteful cycle of more driving, reduced travel options and more costly public infrastructure. Cities need better solutions to traffic problems. Roadway expansions are expensive, and only provide temporary relief until additional traffic fills the added capacity. “Win-win” solutions reduce congestion and help achieve other community goals including affordability, equity, public health and safety. Applying these solutions requires a shift to accessibility-based planning that recognizes the many benefits provided by multimodal planning and compact neighborhoods. In this keynote address, Todd Litman shares insights from his research, Smart Congestion Relief, Affordability as a Transportation Planning Goal and The Mobility-Productivity Paradox. Todd’s up-to-date research will provide practical guidance for more efficient infrastructure spending, increasing financial savings for families, and how to create more inclusive and livable communities. Tickets for this event will go on sale early in the new year. We hope to see you there! Mel Marginet | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 300-286 Smith Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1K4 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> *Note: I work two days a week at Green Action Centre and it may take a few days to respond to you. We are located on Treaty 1 Territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation. The water we drink comes from Shoal Lake First Nation. [https://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif] Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org<http://canadahelps.org/> [https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4xnHIzg-oNAxItLMxFnB1HS5HGb…]<http://gomb.ca>

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WFP Editorial: The traffic disaster that failed to arrive (Dec11'25)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. EDITORIAL The traffic disaster that failed to arrive https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/2025/12/11/the-traffic… FOR pedestrians and motorists who have traversed Winnipeg’s most iconic intersection during the past six months, a quick upward glance would have confirmed what proponents of reopening the windy interchange to foot traffic have predicted all along: The sky has not fallen at Portage and Main. After years — perhaps decades — of doomsaying by those opposed to reintroducing aboveground pedestrian activity to the intersection, data collected since the June 27 reopening show the controversial change has actually had negligible impact on vehicular traffic flow. Adherents to the keep-it-closed school of thought had long argued that allowing foot traffic across Portage and Main would create varying degrees of gridlock-induced chaos and regrettable vehicle/pedestrian carnage. Instead, the transition back to a pedestrian-accessible intersection has been seamless and without any incidents of note. The study, undertaken by the City of Winnipeg, involved data collected from GPS-enabled vehicles travelling on four specified routes leading in and out of the Portage and Main interchange during peak traffic times in November. That information was then compared to data collected in November 2024, before pedestrian traffic was reintroduced. Morning travel on two of the routes was unchanged, while traffic on the other two experienced a delay of less than one minute. Afternoon travel time on three of the routes increased by less than two minutes, while the fourth actually experienced a one-minute decrease. The analysis did not account for nearby construction or other factors that might have affected traffic flow during the data-collection periods. Meanwhile, the analysis also showed that an average of 3,750 pedestrians have crossed Portage and Main daily since Sept. 1. Mayor Scott Gillingham summed it up this way: “Everybody heard the doomsday predictions about gridlock and accidents that would happen, and the data proves that those predictions were wrong. Ultimately, I don’t have a good answer as to why this was debated for so long.” He doesn’t have a good answer because there isn’t — and wasn’t — one. The recent wrangling over Portage and Main dates back more than a decade, to when then-mayoral candidate Brian Bowman made reopening the intersection one of his key campaign promises. After encountering resistance to his pledge, Bowman relented and said he would abide by the result of a plebiscite on the issue — which in 2018 ultimately showed a majority of Winnipeggers opposed reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians. A breakdown of that vote, however, showed the strongest opposition came from outlying suburban areas of the city, meaning most of the people who voted on the “no” side had likely never actually travelled through the intersection in question. But the politicization of the Portage and Main question by a few naysaying councillors kept the intersection closed, and it likely would have remained inaccessible to pedestrians had not the looming failure of the waterproof membrane protecting the underground concourse — the repair of which would have cost almost $60 million and created four to five years of traffic disruption — forced city council to reconsider the issue as a practical matter, rather than a political one. The newly reported numbers speak for themselves. The return of pedestrians has not affected traffic in any meaningful way. And the simple fact of the matter is that nothing catastrophic was going to happen at this intersection simply because pedestrians crossed the street there. Despite its local-icon stature, Portage and Main is no more complicated than thousands of other intersections in hundreds of other major cities that are traversed safely by millions of pedestrians every day. The wind will always blow at Portage and Main, but the sky was never going to fall.

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WFP: Free bus rides for all might be what’s needed to save Transit (Dec11'25)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Free bus rides for all might be what’s needed to save Transit DAN LETT https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2025/12/10/free-bus-rides-for-all-m… WHEN one looks at the multitude of problems facing Winnipeg Transit — declining ridership, increasing costs and chronic concerns about safety — it becomes increasingly clear that new and even radical ideas need to be embraced. One such idea is eliminating fares. That might seem like a pipe dream until it’s acknowledged just how critically important public transit is for the future of all cities, including Winnipeg. Robust transit ridership not only helps reduce carbon emissions — desperately needed to slow climate change — but also reduces the wear and tear on municipal infrastructure, adding years to the lifespans of roads, bridges and other transportation assets. Transit is also a tool that creates socioeconomic opportunities for even the poorest of citizens, enabling them to move about the city. Unfortunately, following the worst years of the pandemic, ridership has dropped in just about every city, threatening the viability of public transit. Winnipeg is an excellent case in point. This week, a City of Winnipeg committee was told Transit would earn $8.5 million less than budgeted for the current year, as nearly five million fewer rides were taken. Transit finance manager Laurie Fisher told the committee “the erosion of fare revenue” is a problem that has no easy explanation and, thus, no current solution. The city is working to improve transit services with last summer’s launch of a redesigned network and improved schedules. Although city officials believe the new system will, ultimately, be better for most riders, there are concerns the transition — combined with ongoing concerns about safety — has discouraged some people from taking the bus. And that is making Winnipeg Transit less viable. It will cost roughly $264 million this year to operate the service. Fares and provincial grants contribute about $140 million, but the balance — about $124 million — has to be taken out of the city’s general revenues. Despite the lost revenue from fewer rides, Winnipeg Transit is expected to end the year with a small surplus, thanks to lower costs of fuel and carbon taxes. However, unless paid ridership increases substantially in the next few years, it will find itself trapped in a revenue death spiral. Fewer riders every year, against a backdrop of increasing costs. It may seem counterintuitive to address the problem by eliminating fares. However, the broader analysis suggests the benefits would far outweigh the overall costs. Increasingly, we’re seeing other cities, faced with the same dilemma as Winnipeg, taking that bold step. In 2023, Iowa City, Iowa, decided to eliminate bus fares for two years on a pilot basis. Ridership rose above pre-pandemic levels by nearly 20 per cent. The city’s residents put 2.9 million fewer vehicle kilometres on city streets, reducing carbon emissions by 778 metric tons. Of course, with close to 80,000 citizens, Iowa City might not make the best point of comparison with a city such as Winnipeg that is 10 times bigger. Thankfully, we are also starting to see larger jurisdictions launch similar initiatives. Luxembourg, the landlocked western European nation bordered by Belgium, Germany and France, has a population of about 680,000. It made buses, trams and second-class train tickets free in 2020 and has experienced around a 12 per cent increase in ridership over pre-pandemic levels and around an eight per cent drop in CO2 emissions. What about bigger jurisdictions? When he was a member of the state assembly, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani helped launch a one-year pilot project that provided a free bus line in each of the city’s five boroughs. Service was faster, ridership on the free lines increased by as much as 38 per cent and — perhaps more importantly — around 38 per cent fewer assaults were reported. After he is sworn in on Jan. 1, Mamdani has promised to expand his “fast and free” vision for bus service within the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, arguing that increased revenue from vehicular-congestion pricing will help him cover the cost of citywide free bus service. For advocates of free transit, there is a lot of excitement focused on Belgrade, a Serbian city of around 1.7 million that eliminated fares at the beginning of 2025. No results have been made public yet, but the net impacts on ridership, infrastructure, emissions and safety will be of enormous value in determining the viability of free public transit. Could Winnipeg jump on the free transit wave? It would take an enormous amount of support from the federal and provincial governments, as the city on its own would be unable to cover the nine figures of lost fare revenue. If a deal could be cobbled together, however, the benefits to the city could be limitless. Along with non-financial benefits such as lower CO2 emissions, there would be millions of fewer vehicle miles crossing city streets and bridges. Increased ridership could free the city from wasting billions of dollars on expanding over-burdened commuter routes. For residents, it would mean faster commutes and greater safety by reducing injuries from vehicle collisions. That, in turn, would also bring down the cost of automobile insurance. Unless something radical is done, Winnipeg will be faced with a transit system that is increasingly more expensive and less appealing to riders. This is most definitely one of those situations where the cost of doing nothing is ultimately much larger than the cost of doing something bold. dan.lett(a)winnipegfreepress.com<mailto:dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com>

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WFP: Riding the bus ‘unbearable and stressful’ (Dec11'25)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Riding the bus ‘unbearable and stressful’ Transit system’s frustrating flaws amplified by cold, says committed customer shopping for car https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/10/taking-the-bus-ju… BUS rider Juan Fernandez has had enough of Winnipeg Transit’s new spine-and-feeder network after just five months and the onset of wintry weather. Fernandez, a Transit customer since he moved to the city three years ago, said he’s going to buy a car because his work commute times are double what they used to be, when buses are on time. “I’m looking at (a car) today because I’m done with the transit system,” he told the Free Press Wednesday. “Winnipeg had a very reliable transit system and now it doesn’t. Now, it’s just unbearable and stressful.” The return of freezing temperatures and snow hasn’t helped. While it hasn’t officially started yet, this is the first winter since the new network was introduced June 29. Fernandez said the switch means he spends more time waiting for buses in the cold. The mild start to the season was manageable, but last week’s -30 C wind chills were unbearable, he said. Many passengers complained about the decision to replace the decades-old hub-and-spoke model because it significantly altered their routes or travel times. Some riders now have to take one or more additional buses. The network change eliminated one of two buses Fernandez could take from a stop near his home to downtown, where he transfers to a different bus to complete his trip to work in the morning. He now has to take an extra bus to get to or from the downtown transfer and his commute has doubled to about 70 minutes each way. His travel times to the gym, stores and other destinations are longer. “I don’t want to go anywhere now because it’s taking too long,” Fernandez said. “I feel very angry. I feel we’re just being pranked.” He said buses on the F6 route are often so packed at peak times that people waiting at stops cannot board and have to wait for the next service. Fernandez said the scenario happened to him one night at Isabel Street and William Avenue in the inner city, where he ended up being chased by a man, who appeared to be a drug user, while he waited for the next bus. After the system overhaul was revealed in June, Mayra Manishigaki had to rethink her routes. Basic trips — going to the supermarket, for example — suddenly went from travel on a single bus to what she describes as “almost impossible.” Five months later, the self-described lover of public transit was bundled up in winter gear, waiting for her bus in Osborne Village. She said the cold was making a difficult change worse. “It’s just terrible. You have to plan ahead and usually in the winter, there are more late buses,” she said. “It’s kind of a bummer.” Many of the stops Manishigaki uses during the day don’t offer weather protection from bus shacks. Helping riders stay warm while getting used to the changes would go a long way, she said. “I just wish you could feel a little bit better, more comfortable,” she said. “Having a shack would mean a lot, especially during winter.” Transit is making some changes, based on complaints or requests, when its winter schedule begins Sunday. Fernandez, who reported concerns to 311, doesn’t think his experience will improve. Late-night service is expanding to most on-request zones, some schedules are being rewritten and trips are being added to some busier routes. “I really hope it makes a significant difference, but there are many different issues that people have,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of the city’s public works committee, which oversees Winnipeg Transit. “For certain people, this is going to be fantastic. For certain people, it’s not yet what they want.” Lukes (Waverley West) said Transit has never undergone such a fundamental change. She encouraged riders to continue to submit feedback because it will help to improve the network. More changes are expected in the spring. “We know there are issues because no change is perfect, but we are working to resolve it,” she said. “The spine-and-feeder system is a much better system to make changes and adjustments to.” Transfers are an integral part of the new system and that’s not going to change, she added. Lukes, a Transit user, said she has received positive feedback from riders alongside the negative and she expects good results in the long-term. She said bus shelters will be added next year based on customer feedback and an analysis by staff. Transit had shelters at 705 of 3,825 stops as of Wednesday, compared with 880 at 5,170 stops at the end of 2024, spokesman Brandon Logan said. The total number of stops was cut when the new network launched. Logan said Transit is assessing the condition of 150 shelters that were removed from cancelled stops to find out which ones can be installed at an in-service stop as soon as possible. Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, which represents the city’s bus drivers, said members are happy with the new master plan because it is designed to help them remain on time and take breaks, barring delays caused by construction or weather. It appears most of the frustration among riders has been directed at department heads or council members, rather than front-line Transit staff, he said. “Understandably, humans as a species are averse to change but we are very adaptable and I think that will be the case here as time progresses,” Scott said. “Provided that the elected officials and department heads continue to respond to the issues that the riding public face, I think this system can grow to be far better than what the old system ended up being.” The Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone recently launched an online survey to find out how the network is affecting people who live, work or visit the area. “We’ve heard anecdotally that changes to the Winnipeg Transit network have increased commute times and are making it more challenging for people to get to and move through downtown,” spokeswoman Olivia Billson said. “We hope to gain further insights and ideas where improvements could be made to the system in the future.” Survey results will be shared with the city, she said. — with files from Malak Abas chris.kitching(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca>

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People are waking up to the fact that new vehicles are the Great Canadian Money Suck
by feaver＠mts.net 09 Dec '25

09 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/rob-carrick/> [Rob Carrick]<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/rob-carrick/> Rob Carrick<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/rob-carrick/>Personal Finance Columnist Special to The Globe and Mail Published 10 hours agoUpdated 4 hours ago Open this photo in gallery:<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/B5LSGINOJVB4RD7MRSJ3BTB644.JPG?a…> [cid:image002.jpg@01DC691F.50427EB0]<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/B5LSGINOJVB4RD7MRSJ3BTB644.JPG?a…> High payments for new vehicles can kill cash flow.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press 450 Comments<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-new-vehi…> The triangle of sadness in personal finance is houses, groceries and vehicles. Nothing in the outlook for 2026 suggests major relief is coming on any of those fronts, which leaves you to take action yourself. After five years of oppressive inflation, you've likely pared down your grocery spending as much as possible. Selling your home to cut living costs is no real option, either; it's a last resort and opens up a new set of problems. This leaves us with new vehicles, the Great Canadian Money Suck. The average new vehicle selling price was almost $45,000 at mid-year, and the average monthly loan payment was around $850, according to J.D. Power. Canadians have been amazingly open to carrying this load, but there are signs that is changing. Looking back over his 16 years as a bankruptcy trustee, Scott Terrio recalls how normal it was to point out to clients that high payments for a new vehicle were killing their cash flow. With monthly payments over $1,000, auto loans are increasingly like car mortgages<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-car-auto…> "The difference now is that I have spoken to at least five or six people who have actively said to me, before I suggested it, that they'd like to give their car back," said Mr. Terrio, the manager of consumer insolvency at Hoyes Michalos & Associates. "And that's never happened." You can see the burden of vehicle payments in the latest numbers from credit reporting agency Equifax. In the third quarter of this year, the number of borrowers who missed three or more payments on their auto loans increased 10.8 per cent, to a total of 1.9 per cent of borrowers. Mr. Terrio lays out the savings of getting rid of a car as follows: A monthly payment of, let's say, $700, plus $300 for insurance and another $300 for gas. "That's $1,300 per month - what other lever in your budget can you pull with that extent of savings?" he said. "Nothing. It's so glaring." Let me preface the coming rant on vehicle spending by saying that I have owned 16 cars and one SUV in the past 47 years. I have economized and overspent on vehicles, mostly new ones because I appreciate the improvements in performance, fuel consumption, safety and comfort. In my early 30s, having just bought a home, I sold a fairly expensive two-seat sports car to clear some space in our household spending. One vehicle-buying rule I always followed was to limit loan terms to five years rather than give in to six- and seven-year terms that would shrink monthly payments. Another rule was to put a $400 ceiling on monthly payments, which I'll now inflate to $500 to reflect higher vehicle prices. More stories below advertisement The unspoken consensus that it's fine to pay hundreds of dollars more per month for a vehicle was partly built on clever marketing by the auto industry, which got us hooked on higher-cost SUVs over cars. To ease the shock of higher costs, dealers and lenders commonly offer loan terms of up to seven or eight years and present financing deals by showing weekly or biweekly payments instead of monthly ones. Another explanation for our acceptance of high vehicle payments is that we're more than ever using cars and SUVs to manifest our best selves. Driving a fully loaded SUV says we're active people with busy lives who appreciate finer things. Mr. Terrio sees vehicles as a classic example of the conflict between needs and wants. "People will say to me, 'But I need my car,' and I say back to them, 'You need a car - you don't need that car.'" Rob Carrick: Four questions to help you navigate the personal finance challenges ahead<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-personal…> Rob Carrick: Eight lessons learned in 27 years of covering personal finance and investing<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-rob-carr…> The types of vehicles his clients drive is worth noting. Expensive German brands are common. Also, some Teslas and fully loaded pickup trucks owned by young men. Mr. Terrio noted how common it is for renters to own vehicles like these - he's heard a theory that people are buying luxury vehicles as consolation for being shut out of the housing market. The reason why we may be at a breaking point for the acceptance of high vehicle costs is the layering of generational levels of inflation on top of economic disruptions caused by the pandemic and then the trade war with the United States. If you're under maximum financial stress and see your car or SUV payments as part of the problem, Mr. Terrio says you can notify the lender or dealer that you're walking away from your loan. Any shortfall between the sale proceeds for your vehicle and the amount owing can be added to the debts that are part of your insolvency. Mr. Terrio believes Canada is "over-vehicled," which is to say we spend too much on cars and SUVs relative to income. "I'm not anti-car," he said. "I'm anti-broke."

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WFP: Transit loses millions in ridership revenue (Dec9'25)
by Beth McKechnie 09 Dec '25

09 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Transit loses millions in ridership revenue New network, safety concerns cited as ridership declines; surplus still forecast https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/08/transit-loses-mil… WINNIPEG Transit expects to earn $8.5 million less in fares than its budget predicted this year as fewer people have been taking the bus. During a public works meeting on Monday, committee members were told the number of riders fell to 89 per cent of 2019 levels as of Nov. 30, this year. That’s down from 95 per cent of 2019 (pre-pandemic levels) throughout 2024. Annual ridership reached 48,770,208 in 2019, the city’s website says. “The issue that we continue to struggle with is the erosion of fare revenue and this year’s forecast is to be under budget by $8.5 million… We did not anticipate the extent to which we have realized lower ridership numbers,” Laurie Fisher, Winnipeg Transit’s finance manager, told the committee. Fisher said riders who refuse to pay also affect revenue. Due to savings in fuel and carbon tax costs, Transit still expects to end the year with a $400,000 surplus. The service doesn’t have clear data to determine the exact reasons why ridership declined. However, a Transit official believes the bumpy start to a new primary transit network implemented on June 29 is partly to blame. “After the launch of the new network, we were expecting that we would have a bit of a decline in ridership, because… it’s going to take people a while to learn the new network. Some people are just going to not take transit anymore and there’s going to be a bit of a lag until people who have better service (due to the changes)… start taking the bus,” said Bjorn Radstrom, Transit’s manager of service development. The new primary transit network triggered many complaints from riders, with some reporting longer travel times, inconvenient stops and added transfers. Transfers are a key feature of the new spine-and-feeder system, which uses community feeder routes to connect to more central ones and aims to make many buses more reliable. Radstrom noted the decline in ridership began late last year, months before the new network was implemented. He said similar reductions have been experienced by other transit systems, though the reasons are not clear. “We’re all a little bit confused as to why this is happening,” he said. The chairwoman of council’s public works committee said she suspects reduced ridership may be linked to repeated security issues. “I’d have to say people are not maybe taking transit as much because they’re concerned about their safety,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West). Crime has been a persistent concern for Transit for several years. In September, the Winnipeg Police Service announced a “targeted safety strategy” in and around buses. Police noted 325 violent crimes were reported at Winnipeg Transit locations in 2024 alone, including on buses and near bus shelters. Lukes stressed the city and Transit have taken several steps to reduce public transportation risks, including adding community safety officers who patrol buses and bus stops. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 president Chris Scott called the loss in revenue “a bit of a surprise and a bit of a concern.” Scott suggested changes made by the Transit overhaul, namely the reduction in late night service, could be a major factor in ridership decline. Safety issues could also be a factor. “The two of them combined should put the city on notice that something is going to have to be done, and going to have to be done soon,” he said. Ridership has slowly gone up since the pandemic, Scott said, but the drop in revenue has him concerned about a potential “death spiral,” where a reduction in ridership could result in cuts in service from the city, then spark further reductions in ridership. “I do hope that this is just a hiccup in our increase in ridership.” Harleen Deol, a University of Winnipeg student, said she bought a car around three months after the Transit routes changed in June. Overnight, the trip from her home in Amber Trails to the U of W nearly doubled, to an hour or more from 35 minutes, and she had to walk over half an hour to get home some days because her bus did not run at night. “I can guarantee that if the bus routes had not changed, I would have never got the car,” she said Monday. Taylor Reisdorf said he used to catch the bus twice a day or more. Now, he uses the bus about one day a week. He also bought a car in response to the Transit overhaul after his commute from River Heights to his downtown office became 40 minutes or longer, in comparison to his original 15- to 20-minute commute. “I no longer rely on the transit system… I’ve lost faith in their ability to run the system properly,” he said. As the temperature continues to drop, he said he worries about Transit users who may be waiting outside more often and for longer periods, without additional shelters at stops to help them stay warm. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> malak.abas(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: WRENCH’s Cycle of Giving provides bikes to children in need (Dec8'25)
by Beth McKechnie 08 Dec '25

08 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. WRENCH’s Cycle of Giving provides bikes to children in need Hundreds of bicycles brought back to life https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/08/hundreds-of-bicyc… THE same thing that motivated Gerry Hagglund to participate in a bike-building marathon 14 years ago brought him back to the event on Sunday. “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said. Hagglund was one of more than 100 volunteers who participated in the WRENCH’s 15th annual Cycle of Giving, which sees the organization take bicycles bound for the landfill, restore them and give them to children in need. More than 350 bicycles were brought back to life during the 24-hour event, which started Saturday at noon. A retired dental supply company executive and avid cyclist, Hagglund arrived at the event at 6 a.m. on Sunday. Five hours later, he’d already repaired 10 bikes. “It’s kind of nice to see something like that get all fixed up and go off to a new person who will really enjoy it,” the 68-year-old said. “I can remember when our son got his first bike. It’s an amazing sight to see.” There were 16 repair stations set up at Lord Roberts Community Centre for the event, plus one corner where participants made sure each bicycle was equipped with reflectors. At the quality control station, two senior mechanics double-checked everyone’s work and gave each bike a test drive. “One of the joys of Cycle of Giving is watching large adults ride tiny bicycles — and usually pull it off pretty well,” Geoff Heath said, cracking a smile. Heath was one of the first employees at the WRENCH, which stands for Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub, when it was started in 2010. While he’s since moved on to other work, he still volunteers at the charitable non-profit. Taking a short break from his work at the quality control station on Sunday, the 42-year-old recalled pulling all-nighters during the first few Cycle of Giving events. “At some point, around 3 a.m., you really don’t want to fix bikes anymore,” he said. “It’s a marathon. To those that do it, kudos.” It’s a worthwhile cause, he added. “(For) so many kids in the city who might not have access to a bike, at the holiday season they’re getting a pair of wheels,” he said. “That’s pretty amazing.” After making it through quality control, every bike went to the washing station to undergo cleaning. Maren Tyc and Lauren Purves were set up there Sunday morning. It was the lifelong best friends’ first time participating in the event. “Maybe in future years we’ll be at the level to work at one of the mechanic stations,” Tyc said. “I’d be really excited about that.” Tyc and Purves decided to get involved after doing a cycling trip in Norway this past summer. The 26-year-olds rode more than 1,000 km on a tandem bicycle from Oslo to Tromsø, where Purves is studying urban planning. Both were impressed by the event. “There’s a lot of energy in the room… and so much generosity,” Tyc said. “It’s just really cool to see this many people come together for one cause.” The WRENCH aims to make the event accessible to participants of all abilities and skill sets, Heath said. At a final station, volunteers were creating homemade holiday cards that will be distributed with each bike. According to its website, the WRENCH offers community bike programming aimed at educating youth, empowering volunteers and providing people with affordable, sustainable active transportation options. It’s headquartered on Logan Avenue. Cycle of Giving is important because it gives the organization an opportunity to fix and distribute a large number of bikes in a short amount of time, said Anders Annell, bike shop co-ordinator. The WRENCH will distribute the bikes to about a dozen community partners who will give them to children who are nine years old and younger, he said. Staff and volunteers go to great lengths to make sure children receive something that works well and is clean, he added. “Any bike can be awesome if it’s free, but a bike that looks great and works great is even better — and it’s safer,” Annell said. Bruce W.J. Miller, executive director at the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council, said he feels fortunate his organization will be receiving some of the bikes repaired during Cycle of Giving. “We’re very thankful for the generosity of the WRENCH program,” Miller said. “As you can imagine, a bike can mean a world of difference to a young person.” aaron.epp(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Data shows opening Portage and Main to pedestrians has minimal impact on rush-hour travel times (Dec8'25)
by Beth McKechnie 08 Dec '25

08 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Data shows opening Portage and Main to pedestrians has minimal impact on rush-hour travel times ‘Doomsday predictions’ proven ‘wrong’ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/08/doomsday-predicti… FOUR months after the intersection of Portage and Main opened to pedestrian crossings, traffic data shows there has been almost no impact to commuting motorists. It’s news that comes as little surprise to proponents of taking down the barricades that once held foot traffic at bay — and one that some hope will end a contentious debate that has raged in the Manitoba capital for decades. “Before the intersection was open to pedestrians, everybody heard the doomsday predictions about gridlock and accidents that would happen, and the data proves that those predictions were wrong,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said Friday. “Ultimately, I don’t have good answer as to why this was debated for so long.” The City of Winnipeg undertook a study to analyze travel-times for motorists crossing Portage Avenue and Main Street. It involved data collected from GPS-enabled vehicles travelling on four key routes leading into and from the intersection during peak traffic hours in November. That data was then compared to data collected from November of last year, before pedestrian traffic was introduced. Morning travel on two of the routes was unchanged year over year, while travel time for the others increased by less than a minute. In the afternoon, travel time on three of the routes increased by less than two minutes, and the remaining route saw a one-minute decrease. “Generally speaking, there has been minimal impact to travel times,” city spokesperson Julie Dooley said in an email. “These changes are all considered relatively negligible when looking at impacts to daily commutes.” Meanwhile, the data found the intersection has been crossed by tens of thousands of pedestrians, with foot traffic averaging 3,570 people per day. Dooley noted the analysis did not account for nearby construction, or other issues that could cause congestion. “I’m not surprised. It’s a modern intersection and we are employing modern techniques to manage traffic flow,” said University of Winnipeg urban geography professor Jino Distasio. “My hope is that, in the end, the average Winnipegger just sees the opening of Portage and Main as nothing more than a routine cleanup of an intersection that could have always allowed pedestrians to cross.” Despite its reputation as Winnipeg’s most iconic intersection, Distasio said Portage and Main is fundamentally no different from crossings in other major urban centres. “On any given day now, if you asked a tourist, ‘Is there anything distinctive about this intersection?’ Most would look at you and say, ‘What?’” he said. “I think today, we’ve just moved on. The issue is closed and the intersection is open.” Arguments over whether at-grade crossings should be permitted at Portage and Main have ebbed and flowed since it closed to foot traffic in 1979 and pedestrians were redirected to an underground concourse. Reopening the intersection was a key plank in former mayor Brian Bowman’s 2014 election campaign, but he encountered resistance from some on city council. The debate reached a fever pitch with the results of a 2018 plebiscite, in which the majority of respondents voted against reopening. Opponents cited concerns that pedestrian crossings may cause traffic congestion and compromise safety. It is unclear whether the reopening has resulted in an increase in collisions; Manitoba Public Insurance could not immediately provide such data on Friday. Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy said pedestrian crossings have not caused issues for officers. Coun. Janice Lukes, who at first opposed opening the intersection to pedestrians, later reversed course and was among the first people to cross during a grand-opening ceremony in June. She travels the route by car almost daily, and has noticed no difference to her commute in the months since, she said. “At the time, I didn’t support it. But, you know what, society changes, things change, life changes, people change,” she said. “I think back then, there was a lot of political drama about it. This current mayor said, ‘Look, it’s an intersection. We want to get it done, let’s do it.’ And we did, and I’m fine with it.” Adam Dooley was a key member of the citizen-led Vote Open campaign during the plebiscite. He said the decision became unnecessarily politically charged, and should have instead focused on improving accessibility downtown. “It was a feud between a couple of city councillors and the mayor of the day, and I hope that we can all learn that that kind of behaviour just poisons politics and leads to bad decision-making,” he said. “It’s very nice that it’s working out the way it is; it’s frustrating that it took us this long to get here.” Coun. Jeff Browaty, who also once opposed opening the intersection, agreed that doing so has not had a dramatic effect on travel times. He said the change coincided with other traffic improvements surrounding the intersection, including the addition of a new turning lane and an overhaul of the Winnipeg Transit network. “I think these are all real factors,” he said. “I think this does end the debate, and we will have to monitor things. I do believe there is still a segment of the population that is still anti-car… the vast majority of trips Winnipeggers take are by vehicle, and I think we do need to continue to recognize that fact.” tyler.searle(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Mayor sees solution to housing at curling club site (Dec4'25)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Dec '25

04 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. [This article is a bit outside the boundaries of the AT Network's purpose but I thought many of you would be equally interested.] City report says provincial board lacks authority to impose parking condition on development permit Mayor sees solution to housing at curling club site https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/03/city-proposes-roc… MAYOR Scott Gillingham says the city has a solution to advance the controversial housing project slated for the Granite Curling Club parking lot, although the club alleges the city doesn’t have the power to put it in place. “I believe there’s a win-win situation here to get the housing built that we need… and also to address the parking matter in a new lease,” said Gillingham. In February, city council approved an 11 storey, 110-unit residential building for the city-owned land. Half of the suites would have affordable rent for 99 years. But the Granite Curling Club appealed the decision to the Manitoba Municipal Board, arguing the location would eliminate 45 of its 80 parking stalls, rendering the operation no longer viable. In November, the municipal board directed the city and club to develop an “adequate” parking plan “to the satisfaction of the Granite Curling Club” and city, which the mayor opposed, arguing that would give the club veto power over the project. Since provincial legislation prohibits city council from passing a zoning bylaw that doesn’t conform to the municipal board’s recommendations, many considered the directive binding. However, in a new report released Wednesday, city staff conclude the parking plan condition is “not in respect of the proposed bylaw” and the provincial board has “no authority” to impose a condition on a development permit. That means city council is not legally bound to follow it, the report states. The staff report recommends council instead approve its original motion to allow the project. “We have the public service recommendation here, in consultation with the city’s legal team, that this is the way we should proceed and I’ll be supporting that,” said Gillingham. The mayor noted he is also calling on city staff to negotiate a new long-term lease with the board of the curling club, which includes an expanded leased area and dedicated on-site parking options. “I believe there’s parking space available in the area. This problem can be solved,” said Gillingham. The city has long deemed the proposed housing at 22 Granite Way as key to creating much-needed affordable homes near transit and other services. On Wednesday, a member of the Granite club’s board said he remains convinced the city would violate provincial legislation if it doesn’t follow the entire municipal board recommendation. “Although the city was unhappy with the decision, it doesn’t give the city the right to ignore the provisions of the city charter and the municipal board’s recommendation,” said Christian Pierce, the board’s secretary. “(This) is in clear contravention of the city charter provisions.” Pierce said the club doesn’t oppose the housing development itself but must have sufficient parking to ensure it can continue operations. He said the board is considering “all options” to oppose the city’s decision, which could include a legal challenge. “We’re just absolutely baffled that (the city is) taking the position that they don’t have to follow legislation,” said Pierce. When asked if the provincial government will take any action to ensure the city follows the board’s directions, Manitoba Municipal Relations Minister Glen Simard did not directly answer. While he urged the city and curling club to “continue to work on compromises,” he also noted repeatedly that his government respects the authority of its municipal counterparts. “We’ll continue to look forward to having legislation in place so these types of incidents don’t happen in the future… The city has decisions to make. We respect them as a local and mature order of government to make those decisions,” said Simard. The provincial government is reviewing legislation that controls the municipal board’s powers. Winnipeg City Council’s executive policy committee will vote Tuesday on the plan to move the project forward. — with files from Carol Sanders joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP: Transit heeds ‘direct feedback,’ adds late-night hours to most on-request zones (Dec2'25)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Dec '25

02 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Transit heeds ‘direct feedback,’ adds late-night hours to most on-request zones https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/12/02/transit-heeds-dir… WINNIPEG Transit will soon add late night service to most of its on-request zones, allowing riders to hail buses until 2 a.m. most days. The city made the announcement in a news release Monday, saying the changes are a “direct result” of feedback that riders have submitted since June’s launch of the new spine-and-feeder bus network. “Winnipeggers have been clear about what’s working and what needs improvement,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said in the release. “Winnipeg Transit is using that feedback, along with what they see on buses and at transit stops every day, to keep improving the new network.” The city cut more than 1,000 bus stops when it overhauled the transit system, but expanded the on-request bus service that allows riders to request a bus pickup online, via an app or by calling 311. There are now 12 zones around the city where riders can request a bus to take them from where they are to a bus stop on the primary network. Ten of those zones will benefit from the changes, with zones 104 (St. Boniface Industrial Park) and zone 110 (St. Boniface) the only two unaffected, All zones that currently operate after 7 p.m. will extend service until about 2 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. On Sundays and holidays, those zones will operate until about 12:45 a.m., the release said. The boundaries for zone 103 (North West) will also expand so passengers can take on-request rides to Garden City Shopping Centre and Walmart. “We’ve also rewritten schedules for buses that were regularly late and added capacity to routes that were regularly full,” the news release said. Other changes include a full rewrite of schedules for buses D12, D13, D16 and F8. In total, those routes will see 49 service hours added on weekdays. New trips will also be added to six school-serving routes that are experiencing capacity issues, the release said. Routes 557, 649 and 678 will see new trips added before and after school hours. Routes 442, 694 and 885 will see an extra trip added before school hours. A list detailing those schedule changes, and more, is available on the Winnipeg Transit website. The changes will take effect Sunday to coincide with the launch of Transit’s winter schedule. tyler.searle(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Que. coroner calls for better pedestrian safety after death of girl (Dec1'25)
by Beth McKechnie 01 Dec '25

01 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Que. coroner calls for better pedestrian safety after death of girl MONTREAL — A Quebec coroner is recommending strengthened measures to protect pedestrian safety after the hit-and-run death of a seven-year-old Ukrainian refugee in 2022. Coroner Éric Lépine said in a recent report that the girl’s death was accidental, caused by the driver’s failure to stop fully at an intersection as well as the blinding morning sun. “My analysis of the facts leads me to conclude that the driver never saw (the victim) and that (the victim) never saw the vehicle,” Lépine wrote. “The collision resulted from a lack of vigilance on the part of the driver, due to an incomplete stop of his vehicle combined with poor visibility caused by glare from the sun.” However, he called on the city and province to take steps to improve safety at intersections, including adding sun glare as a criteria to consider when deciding which measures to put in place. Seven-year-old Mariia Legenkovska was walking to school with her brother and sister on Dec. 13, 2022, when a Jeep Grand Cherokee fatally struck her. The driver drove away without stopping but turned himself in to police later that day. He pleaded guilty in 2024 to failing to stop after an accident, and was later sentenced to a year of house arrest. Mariia and her family moved to Montreal in 2022 to escape the Russian invasion of their country. Her father, Andrii Legenkovska, was fighting for Ukraine’s territorial defence forces when she was killed, and he travelled to Montreal from the front lines to bury his daughter. Lépine’s Nov. 12 report redacts the victim’s name but notes that her death affected all of Quebec and prompted calls to better protect children in city streets. The report notes that the driver slowed down and looked both ways at the intersection where the girl was struck, but did not stop. The driver did not see the girl, but felt a bump under his tires, it states. He turned himself in to police a few hours later. The coroner noted that physical modifications such as bollards, speed bumps and curb extensions are the best way to improve pedestrian safety at intersections, and advised the city to continue adding them wherever possible. — The Canadian Press

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WFP: Child struck by vehicle Friday (Dec1'25)
by Beth McKechnie 01 Dec '25

01 Dec '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. CHILD STRUCK BY VEHICLE FRIDAY A YOUTH was hit by a car while crossing the street on River Road near St. Mary’s Road just before 5 p.m. Friday. The child was sent to hospital as a precaution and is in stable condition, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed Saturday. The driver remained at the scene and was co-operative with police.

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WFP: Pernicious cycle - Is there any strategy that can shift bike-theft crisis out of high gear? (Nov29'25)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Nov '25

29 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. PERNICIOUS CYCLE Is there any strategy that can shift bike-theft crisis out of high gear? https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/28/pernicious-cycle THERE’S perhaps no crime Winnipeggers are more likely to complain about. The hefty amount it costs Winnipeggers every year is impossible to calculate precisely, since the phenomenon goes as under-reported as it is seemingly omnipresent. Yet talk to local universities’ sociologists and criminologists, and they’ll tell you the crime — bike theft — isn’t particularly well-studied in Canada. The public’s picture of this “black market” is filtered mostly through aggravating personal experiences and news reports, which lately in Winnipeg have offered especially eye-catching headlines. Earlier this month, the Winnipeg Police Service told the public stolen bikes are being stripped down for parts that can be turned into weapons. And not just knives and sharp objects, but improvised shotguns. “We have concerns not only for the theft of bicycles that are being traded for money… or for drugs, but we’re also concerned about bicycles that are being taken apart and then used to create weapons,” said Insp. Helen Peters, adding a bike tube casing can be the right size to hold a shotgun shell. In August, city police shut down a bike chop shop at a riverbank homeless encampment in Point Douglas, charging two men with possession of stolen property and seizing dozens of bikes and hundreds of bike parts, as well as a gas generator, pressure washer and other materials. It’s believed to be the first time Winnipeg police secured and executed a search warrant for an encampment. The WPS also reported that people at the approximately 900-sq.-ft. camp — consisting of tarps on four sides, with multiple “rooms” — were working in shifts and did not necessarily appear homeless. Fabricating shotguns, engaging in shift work, stockpiling stolen goods in hidden dens, being thwarted by warrants — all this may at first give an impression that actors in Winnipeg’s black market for bikes are essentially, to use a loaded term, “organized” criminally. But talk to local outreach workers and to some of the actors themselves and a different picture emerges, one of a chaotic milieu driven by desperation, poverty and addiction. “What the police found (in Point Douglas) was more the exception than it is the rule… Generally, it’s very disorganized. It’s part of the flailing behaviour of drug addicts,” says Marion Willis, executive director of the non-profit St. Boniface Street Links, which works with people experiencing homelessness and addiction. Willis points to the hoarding tendencies of methamphetamine addicts, attributing some bike theft and chopping to the compulsive behaviours the drug can trigger. In fact, she says she’s lobbied city council for policies differentiating between hoarding disorders and meth addicts’ collecting behaviours so city workers don’t address the two with the same tactics. “People are attempting to frame (bike theft) as organized crime because there is, I think, at least a limited degree of consciousness around the idea of crimes of poverty,” says Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, an associate professor in the University of Winnipeg’s department of criminal justice. Yet, she says, this doesn’t mean bike thieves aren’t “rational” or “organized” in other senses. “People organize to make the encampment safe for themselves. They steal bikes and organize (in ways) that arise from a shared set of problems in a particular context,” she says. “People are making choices based on a scan of their options…And that goes right down to choice of drugs. People take meth because they have to stay awake when it’s cold outside.” Point Douglas community activist Sel Burrows suggests there is often criminal co-ordination involved with bike theft, observing that a division of labour — between stealers, choppers and sellers — sometimes exists. But he agrees that it mostly falls well short of “organized crime” in the conventional sense. “There’s the professional bike thief who goes out looking for high-end bikes and has a battery-powered grinder… (and there’s) the two or three poor souls who definitely need their meth hit or whatever and they will chop up whatever bikes they can and take them down to the junkyard,” he says. ●●● Burrows and Willis, speaking from decades of experience working with underserved urban communities, both say bicycle theft is an important part of the economy fuelling the purchase of meth and fentanyl in Winnipeg, with bikes and bike parts often serving as currency. Illicit currencies can be laundered and in an informal sense this appears to be one of the roles chop shops play: a site not just for stripping bikes, but for spray-painting them, scratching off serial numbers and mixing and matching parts so that when bikes are resold, they can’t be easily identified. “(Stealing and chopping bikes) is part of the inner-city gig economy. You can’t get a job, you don’t have a car, so you can’t go delivering food and stuff like that… this is something you can do with very little skill,” says Burrows, who has held senior advisory roles with the provincial government. “It’s all about getting money to buy drugs or having something they can trade for drugs. That’s what it is. That’s the underground economy,” Willis says. Sellers of stolen bikes are known to offload their wares by a variety of means, such as online via Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, or by selling them to passers-by on the street. James Audy, an outreach worker with Street Links, says dealers sometimes accept bicycles from customers, not to re-sell them, but for parts to tune up the look and function of their own bikes. He speaks candidly based not only on his experience with outreach, but as an ex-gang member who ended up homeless for a decade. “On the streets, the nicer bike you have, then the better the status you have, right?” he says. “If I was dealing drugs and if I seen a nice part, I’d buy it just to put it on my bike.” When vehicles are too expensive — and in a car-centric city with a floundering public transit system — Audy says bikes substitute as objects of pride and as means of transportation. So those drawn to using stolen bikes for lack of an affordable alternative ideally want to get around on something that doesn’t offend the eye and also provides a smooth ride, like virtually everyone else. ●●● “Someone’s always using a bike, it’s the hood… They use bikes — they don’t have money for transportation,” says Marty. He lives in one of downtown Winnipeg’s encampments and runs a makeshift bike shop outside his tent. He says he resells the bikes he works on usually for around $40 and sometimes services others’ two-wheelers in need of repairs. “You could just as easily throw them out,” he says of the old, loose parts scattered outside his tent. With a hint of humour, he describes his work as a form of recycling. Lee, who ran a makeshift bike shop in his yard before police intervened this summer, is hurt by the negative perception neighbours had of his family. He says he provides a kind of service for people wanting cheap bicycles and bike parts while making ends meet after an injury left him unable to work. “I had a couple people stop by — I give them a tire or nut… (later) the cops showed up and tried to say we’re drug dealers… People look at us like we’re bad people. But we’re trying to provide… (and) everyday is a struggle,” he says. “Everyone’s not perfect: the kids want to be tough. The kids and friends bring parts… and I go through them,” he adds. Lee says his family are not thieves, but if a few stolen parts mix into the piles he has on hand, “I don’t find it that big of a deal.” Marty’s attitude is similar. “People just drop them off, I don’t ask,” he says. “I know some parts are stolen, but… I’m against stealing. I think about if someone was hurt.” He says he has often been the victim of theft, himself. “Sometimes people steal from me. It’s my fault, it’s in the open,” he says. “It could be the same people who ask me to fix the bike… People act like children, stealing each other’s toys: they’re mad at something, I can’t put my finger on it.” Audy isn’t surprised by this and describes the underground market for bikes in downtown Winnipeg as a sort of warped circular economy. “Everybody’s in survival mode,” he says. “Everybody steals off everybody. It’s a greasy environment. The next generation is seeing all these older guys … stealing and thinking it’s cool, so now they’re trying to step it up a little bit, right?” ●●● Bike theft is not just a “crime of the poor.” Petty thievery can tempt people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and, unsurprisingly, there’s hardly a unified social-scientific explanation for bicycle theft. Dobchuk-Land says studying bike theft is also complicated by the fact there exists a rift between crime reporting and crime itself. Certain neighbourhoods and demographics are policed more, skewing perceptions of crime. However, there is no shortage of studies highlighting how low socioeconomic status — including poverty, unemployment and inequality — correlates in complex ways with certain forms of street crime, like petty theft. The sociologist is often drawn toward thinking about social systems and structures, and how these might be reformed, when it comes to addressing “crimes of survival” including petty thievery. This could mean not solely improving social opportunities but also reforming how such crimes are policed in the first place, sparking heated debates and a range of policy possibilities. But for the Winnipegger who enters their garage to find their brand-new city cruiser lifted, often the first and last thought is simply: “What a f—-ing pest!” If this is close to the average Joe’s conception of the bike thief, one of cinema’s most celebrated films offers a more ambivalent image. In Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) a struggling family in Italy’s economically desperate first years after the Second World War scrimps and saves for a bicycle needed for the father’s new job posting advertising bills around Rome. That bicycle is lifted from him by a thief on his first day of work, so he too, after much indecision, gives in to the temptation to steal a bike from a stranger, likely just as destitute as him. With a guilty conscience, he perpetuates a vicious circle. The social context is obviously very different: in Winnipeg, the meth and fentanyl addiction crises combine with forces like systemic poverty as factors encompassing bike theft. But the film highlights what academics less poetically term “victim-offender overlap,” a construct studied in fields like urban sociology. But recognizing the victim status of many thieves doesn’t make bike theft, particularly for poor and working families, any less vexing when it happens to them. “I mean, I use the example of one young woman who called me in tears. She finally had a job so… she bought her five-year-old a Princess bicycle at Canadian Tire for 100 bucks. And two days later, it was in the shed, and it was stolen,” Burrows says. Dobchuk-Land adds: “The impact of a low-level property theft will necessarily impact somebody who’s poorer — it’s more of a dent, literally, in their lives and their wealth.' ●●● The City of Winnipeg says about 3,000 bikes are reported stolen every year. It’s impossible to know what the actual number is, but Project 529, North America’s largest bike registry, estimates that only 15-20 per cent of bikes stolen in Canada are reported. If we assume a low average price of $150 per bike, that’s about $2.5 million in damages in Winnipeg, annually. Last year, as the Free Press reported, only 681 bikes were recovered and just 105 returned to their owners. This includes 64 returned by the city’s bicycle recovery officer, with help from Project 529’s free-to-use bike-registry app called 529 Garage. In April 2024, the City of Winnipeg began promoting the app to cyclists, and between April and December, residents registered 6,325 bicycles. In an interview with the Free Press earlier this month, Ins. Peters urged Winnipeggers to register their bikes, or at least take photos and record the serial number, and then report them when stolen, otherwise it becomes difficult for police to lay charges. “We know that bike chop shops can be linked to the creation of weapons — weapons such as zipguns — so obviously, it’s not just a theft concern then, it’s even more so a public-matter.” She added police have received an increasing number of calls about chop shops in the past year. Burrows has argued at crime-prevention conferences that bike registration should be mandatory at point of sale, with collaboration from retailers like Walmart and Canadian Tire, placing greater risk on thieves and making it easier for police to investigate and return stolen bikes. He’s not the first to float ideas like these, though they’ve rarely been implemented. Burrows also believes some working- class families are often reluctant to report stolen bikes and property because they mistrust police or fear reprisal. He emphasizes the need for a more “eyes on the street” approach, where communities feel empowered to monitor their own neighbourhoods and anonymously report crimes to a trusted liaison who, when need be, calls on law enforcement. (This is much like the approach of Burrows’ tip-line initiative, Point Powerline, which helped earn him induction into the Order of Manitoba in 2017.) “People feel powerless. They feel that nobody gives a shit about them and they’re mostly right,” he says. ●●● Because Willis, Burrows and Dobchuk-Land situate bike theft broadly in relation to more systemic issues of inner-city poverty, homelessness and addiction, punitive measures aren’t the first thing they talk about when they discuss bike theft-prevention strategies. “This whole idea of ‘broken windows’ policing has really effectively made its way into public consciousness,” says Dobchuk-Land. “We’ve got this association between disorder, low-level crime and danger to us that makes us feel violated… when really, assault and interpersonal violence are not correlated with low-level poverty crime.” In a similar vein, Willis is also troubled by what she sees as an overly punitive approach being taken in dealing with homeless encampments. She’s particularly critical of the city’s new encampment policy, introduced this fall. It prohibits camps in certain areas including near schools, playgrounds, seniors’ facilities, bridges, piers and transit stops, or where “life safety” issues exist. “I think it is an infringement of basic human rights to take something away without offering them either a shelter or a housing option that is real,” she says. Willis says we should be realistic and realize creating more social housing for people living in encampments wouldn’t solve all associated issues of theft and addiction. But she thinks it’s time Winnipeggers reflect more about the bigger picture surrounding nuisances like bike theft, which means more seriously acknowledging and addressing Winnipeg’s addiction and homelessness crises. “We normalized bike theft, we normalized homelessness, we normalized drug use, we’ve normalized encampment living — we normalized it all,” she says. conrad.sweatman(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Pedestrian deaths can’t be ‘business as usual’ (Nov29'25)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Nov '25

29 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Pedestrian deaths can’t be ‘business as usual’ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/28/we-cannot-treat-p… A CANDLELIGHT vigil held to remember a Winnipeg woman who died while crossing an Osborne Village street drew more than 100 people Friday, demanding safer streets in her memory. Dozens gathered at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street, where Rosalie Tennison was struck while crossing the street on Nov. 21. The 67-year-old was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg when she had an unexpected medical event and died the next day. “She was an incredibly outgoing and dedicated person,” said Matthew Bowman, rector at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member. Although Bowman only knew the author and communications professional for six weeks, it was long enough for her to make an impression on him. “(She was) an incredibly organized and driven person, an incredibly generous spirit that genuinely tried to live out her faith and bring joy to others,” Bowman said. The church organized the vigil with advocates for safe streets and the Osborne Village BIZ. Steve West, who has lived in Osborne Village for more than 25 years, said he was shocked and saddened by Tennison’s death but not surprised. He is an avid cyclist who has had close calls with motor vehicles. “When you’re on a bike or walking you have a very different perspective of what’s going on in traffic,” said West, who volunteers with Bike Winnipeg and has long been an advocate for making Winnipeg’s streets safer. “Drivers are not only going very fast but they seem distracted.” Tennison is the ninth pedestrian killed on Winnipeg streets this year, and the 16th person killed in a vehicle collision, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release earlier this week. “Think of the cascading effect of that,” West said. “There’s her family and her church community and her condo community and her friends — for each person that’s killed or seriously injured in a traffic collision, there are so many people that are affected directly or indirectly.” Downtown resident Mandalyn Unger said she attended the vigil because it’s important to commemorate the deaths of pedestrians killed in collisions. “We cannot treat pedestrian deaths as business as usual or expected collateral damage from having such a car-centric city or such a car-centric corridor there on Osborne,” Unger said. She called on Mayor Scott Gillingham and Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, to invest in infrastructure to make Winnipeg’s streets safer for pedestrians. The City of Winnipeg is undertaking numerous initiatives to improve road safety, Lukes told the Free Press Friday afternoon. They include introducing traffic calming curbs and providing dedicated infrastructure for walking and biking. Lukes empathized with Tennison’s family and friends, and said that her father was killed in a car crash when she was 18. “When life is taken in a second, everything changes, nothing stays the same and it’s with you the rest of your life,” Lukes said. Parish Church of St. Luke held a service prior to the vigil to remember Tennison, said Susan Roe-Finlay, reverend deacon at the church and a friend of Tennison’s. “The service was to remember her and to remind people to respect life, and this (vigil) is to remind people that we need safer streets,” Roe-Finlay said. She added that with the advent season beginning Sunday, the church recently hung four advent-themed tapestries that Tennison made last year. “She was very much part of the church fabric,” Roe-Finlay said. aaron.epp(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Local author, beloved church member dies after being hit by car in Osborne Village (Nov25'25)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Nov '25

26 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Local author, beloved church member dies after being hit by car in Osborne Village Ninth pedestrian to die after being hit on Winnipeg streets in 2025 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/24/local-author-belo… A local author, beloved by her church and community, has died after a motorist struck her while she was crossing the street in Osborne Village Friday afternoon. Rosalie Tennison, 67, was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg. She had an unexpected medical event and died early Saturday, her sister Lynette Tennison told the Free Press. She is the ninth pedestrian killed on Winnipeg streets this year, and the 16th person killed in a vehicle collision, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release. “Rosalie was a person who was always thoughtful of people’s challenges, always thinking about the other (person) first,” said Dolores Tjart, a close friend who is president of the condo board at the Roslyn Road building where she lived. Police said the collision occurred at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street around 1:20 p.m. The victim was crossing Osborne when she was hit by a 2014 Ford Fusion that was travelling west on Roslyn. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition, the release said. Police have not indicated whether criminal charges are being considered. The 32-year-old man driving the vehicle remained at the scene. The investigation continues. News about the tragedy shocked those who knew and loved Tennison, said Susan Roe-Finlay, reverend deacon at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member. The close-knit congregation of about 50 people learned about her death Saturday night, and dedicated the Sunday morning church service to their late friend. “At church yesterday, they were just reeling; people were just overwhelmed. We were encouraging them at coffee to share, and I think some of them — they just couldn’t put words together,” Roe-Finlay said. “She is very much part of the fabric of our church. She is amazing.” Roe-Finlay said Tennison joined the church around six years ago, where she quickly developed a reputation for being “welcoming and warm.” Tennison was an active member of the congregation who participated in services by reading, taking collection and greeting parishioners. “She’s been part of our fundraisers. She often appeared at church with crafts and things that she would sell. She loved books and reading,” Roe-Finlay said. “She just seemed to be able to latch on to what people would like or need.” Most recently, she was organizing a fundraising event for the church that included a private screening of a Christmas movie partially filmed there. That event is set to continue in her honour on Saturday, Roe-Finlay said. The church is considering hosting a tea party in her honour next spring. “People will have to wear hats because Rosalie loved hats.” Ev Strong, who was friends with Tennison for 45 years, said she last spoke with her around 8:30 p.m. Friday, while Tennison was in the hospital awaiting further exams. “She said… she saw (the motorist) coming,” Strong said. “She was almost at her curb and she waved at him and he wasn’t paying attention, and then she said her arm hit his car and the next thing, he hit her.” Strong described her longtime friend as “intrepid” and “an inspiration.” “Everything that scared her, she went and did,” Strong said. “For her whole life, she wanted to write a book, and she did it.” Tennison’s debut book<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/2025/05…>, Naomi’s Houses: A Memoir, launched with Heritage House Publishing last spring. It chronicled her childhood in rural Manitoba, where her family battled poverty, overcame tragedies and sought solace in one another. A biography on the publisher’s website noted Tennison was a longtime agricultural journalist whose career spanned weekly newspapers, agricultural trade magazines and a stint at a small-town radio station. She also worked in the communications department of the faculty of agriculture and food sciences at the University of Manitoba. Tennison earned a gold citation from the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation and was a gold-medal winner of a 2022 Canadian Online Publishing Award, the biography said. A spokesperson from the publishing house called Tennison a “lovely and enthusiastic woman” and said they were deeply saddened by news of her death. Tennison contributed to the pages of the Free Press, including sharing her thoughts in letters<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2025/07/09/…> to the editor<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2022/09/09/…>, and writing a 2019 opinion column<https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2019/02/23/rediscovering…> detailing her love for Manitoba winters. She was raised in Manitoba’s Swan Valley region, and later moved to Ontario where she was married and lived for about 25 years, her sister said. She returned to Winnipeg after her husband died about seven years ago. She did not have children, Strong said. Tennison will be buried in a family plot in Bowsman, a small community around 15 kilometres north of Swan River, in the RM of Minitonas. She is the second pedestrian killed by a motorist in Winnipeg this month. A 68-year-old man died after he was hit by a pickup truck at Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue at about 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 15. The driver was co-operative with police, and the investigation is ongoing, WPS said. Manitoba Public Insurance issued a warning last month to alert people to the vulnerability of pedestrians on the roadway. It said there has been an average of 19 pedestrian deaths in the province annually since 2019. As of Nov. 23, 16 pedestrians have died on Manitoba roadways this year, MPI said. In total, the data shows five people have been hit by vehicles at the intersection of Osborne Street and Roslyn Road in the past four years — including two people this year, one person last year and two more in 2022. Nobody was struck at the intersection in 2023. tyler.searle(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Bike memorial for couple killed in crash vanishes, investigation underway (Nov22'25)
by Beth McKechnie 22 Nov '25

22 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. ‘Feels very disrespectful’ Bike memorial for couple killed in crash vanishes, investigation underway https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/21/feels-very-disres… A GHOST bike memorial that honoured a Winnipeg couple killed in a collision involving an alleged impaired driver has gone missing, leaving their loved ones distraught and police investigating. The two-seat bicycle was chained to a metal pole next to Kenaston Boulevard’s southbound lanes, near Enterprise Drive, in memory of Kerry Bonner, 25, and Egor Popov, 31, who died Sept. 13. “I started crying. Who could do something like that?” Bonner’s sister, Julia Bonner, said of when she learned the bike was removed. “I was just in the moment of missing my sister and to hear that, I was devastated.” It’s not yet known who removed the bike or why. With the blessing of Bonner and Popov’s loved ones, the ghost bike was set up by members of Winnipeg’s cycling community during a vigil Sept. 26. The bike was gone when Samantha Beiko, a cycling community member, checked on it Tuesday night. “It just feels very disrespectful. It’s sort of like removing a grave marker,” Beiko said. A couple of severed chain links and a plastic flower, previously attached to the bike, were all that remained at the base of the pole. Painted white, the bicycle was welded together and non-functional. “For now, pretty much the working theory is somebody pulled up, cut the chain and took the bike for scrap,” Beiko said. “It just shows that this is how people view vulnerable road users.” She called the Winnipeg Police Service’s property crimes unit Wednesday morning to report the bike missing. Police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy confirmed an investigation is underway. The memorial was not removed by city staff, spokesman Adam Campbell said. Beiko posted appeals on social media in a bid to track down the bike, which was on a route used by tens of thousands of drivers per day. She contacted scrap yards in case someone tries to exchange the bike for cash. Bonner and Popov — survived by a young child — were on Kenaston’s southbound shoulder when the driver of a speeding pickup truck crashed into them and then fled the scene, police said in September. Police charged Kuldeep Singh Gill, 41, with two counts each of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. He was granted bail in October. Court records show Gill was arrested for driving while impaired by alcohol in July 2016. After pleading guilty in provincial court, he was barred from driving for a year and fined $1,500. The cycling community and Bonner and Popov’s loved ones are discussing whether to put up a new ghost bike or a different memorial. Beiko said there are worries that a new ghost bike, if installed, would be removed, as well. Ghost bikes have been set up in cities around the world to remember cyclists killed in collisions. The memorials are intended to raise awareness about the risks cyclists face. Before it vanished, Beiko said advocates heard from some people who didn’t know what the bike on Kenaston symbolized. She said that demonstrates a need for more education. After the double fatal collision, Bike Winnipeg said Kenaston between Sterling Lyon Parkway and McGillivray Boulevard lacks safe infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, forcing them onto unprotected shoulders. Earlier this month, a driver crashed an SUV into a ghost bike — damaging a plaque — that was next to Wellington Crescent, near Hugo Street, and drove off, Beiko said. It happened the day after the city invited people to weigh in on a proposed temporary bike lane for Wellington between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue, she said. The bike paid tribute to Rob Jenner, 61, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while cycling to work at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in June 2024. Beckham Severight, then 19, was driving at least 159 km/h in a 50 km/h zone immediately before the crash, court heard in March. He received a three-year sentence and five-year driving ban for dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of a collision. chris.kitching(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP Analysis: Finding a better option than bigger roads (Nov20'25)
by Beth McKechnie 20 Nov '25

20 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Finding a better option than bigger roads MEL MARGINET https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/11/20/finding-a-bet… “IF the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” When facing complex problems, governments often reach for the simplest and most familiar solutions. In Winnipeg, that tendency shows up in how we plan for growth of our transportation network. For decades, our go-to transportation investment has been roads for personal vehicles. Before disinvestment in public transit, Winnipeg had a robust, electrified system. Neighbourhoods, like mine in South Osborne, once saw streetcars gliding along the high street every few minutes. An everyday convenience that feels unimaginable today. Swoon! Many civic leaders appear unable to imagine growth without increasing car dependence. The proposed widening of Route 90 is the clearest example. No one disputes that Kenaston from Academy to Taylor and the St. James Bridge needs major repair. Less known is that the city froze its maintenance budget for this stretch of Kenaston from 1993 to 2023. That has had clear consequences. It is strange that a corridor now labelled as “critical” was allowed to suffer such neglect. I digress. This project isn’t just a repair. Tacked on to the budget is a plan to take on significant new public debt to add lanes to Kenaston, reconfigure and add a new span to the St. James Bridge and dramatically expand the intersections at Grant, Corydon and Academy. Does this portion of Route 90 experience congestion? Of course. But does it get significantly more congested than other parts of Route 90 or Henderson, Pembina, St. Mary’s, (insert your local road here)? Nope. And traffic counts show that volumes over the busiest stretch — the St. James Bridge — are roughly the same as they were 30 years ago. On top of that, truck traffic on Route 90 is only about four per cent of the total. Most travel is by personal vehicles, the vast majority being single occupant. We must move people and goods efficiently, not just on Route 90, but everywhere. With this project, the city argues that adding road capacity is worth increasing the project cost for two main reasons: maintaining traffic flow during construction, plus supporting trade and development, especially at Seasons of Tuxedo and Naawi-Oodena. The construction challenge is real, but hardly unique. Cities across North America routinely manage major reconstruction projects without permanently widening the roadway afterwards. Had this project been properly studied, councillors would today be reviewing other viable options and their respective returns on investment. Instead, no serious studies of transportation demand management strategies, that would be less costly and potentially more effective, were undertaken. Councillors are being warned of “traffic chaos” and an “Arlington Bridge scenario” if they don’t approve this widening. This is ironic given that 41 per cent of the project’s stated benefits come from travel-time savings only during construction. Nearly half of the benefits disappear after just two years. The second issue, car-oriented development, is something we have to solve, not just in southwest Winnipeg, but in all areas. We need to add affordable housing everywhere to meet current and future demand. But where and how we build it is of equal importance. We can no longer afford to make the personal vehicle the default mode of choice in new developments. We need to build fast and frequent transit as the centrepiece, with communities that make it easy for kids to walk to school and seniors to walk to appointments and services. Naawi-Oodena’s own master plan identifies the current and proposed infrastructure on Route 90 as a barrier to the walkable development envisioned. The mayor has said, in regards to induced demand, that in the case of Route 90, “demand isn’t being induced, it’s inevitable.” Building new development with no way to get in or out without a personal vehicle is, you guessed it: induced demand. Rather than endlessly adding more lanes, the city needs to explore the full toolkit of transportation demand management measures used elsewhere to reduce congestion. How do we solve congestion on Route 90 as well as on other major regional streets in Winnipeg? Reduce the number of people who drive alone, especially at peak periods. The city has plans and strategies, already approved and sitting on shelves at City Hall, that point the way forward. And there are proven carrot-and-stick measures implemented in other cities like ours that help manage congestion without exploding long-term debt. Winnipeg already has more kilometres of roadway per resident than many comparable cities in Canada, and far more than we can afford to maintain. The multi-billion dollar civic infrastructure deficit we are leaving to future generations is staggering. We owe it to those who come after us to live within our means by taking better care of our existing infrastructure and using it more efficiently. That will ensure that future Winnipeggers inherit a city that is more affordable, healthier and more sustainable than it is today. Mel Marginet is a sustainable transportation specialist at Green Action Centre and the publisher at Great Plains Press, which publishes The City Project. She contributed to Route 90 Expansion: Balancing on a House of Cards, which can be found at anatomyofapothole.ca.

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WFP Analysis: Federal funding cut derails better transit (Nov17'25)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Federal funding cut derails better transit https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/11/17/federal-fundi… THE Government of Canada has cut funding for transit agencies across the country. For all the talk of investment in the federal budget, the $3-billion annual Canada Public Transit Fund has been subsumed into the new Build Communities Strong Fund and weakened the federal government’s support for public transit. Transit agencies know they cannot fund capital projects without support from higher orders of government and will now operate in limbo. Rather than work on improving operational levels, tendering projects, or procuring new equipment that would be manufactured here in Canada, the cut and change to the federal funding model effectively derails transit expansion plans. Much of Canada’s transit capital assets are in a state of condition akin to the infamous Sea King helicopters. Montreal’s Metro cars have been in service since the 1976 Olympics; Edmonton and Calgary are running LRT trains that are more than 40 years old; and Toronto’s Line 2 subway cars date back to when Canada was navigating the first free trade agreement with the United States. Across the country, thousands of buses are also operating well beyond their design life, creaking away long after their planned life cycle. As of 2024, the country’s eight largest transit agencies faced a growing annual operating budget shortfall of $1.6 billion. That operating shortfall, keeping buses and trains moving, is exacerbated by a capital projects backlog that’s chronic with so much of Canada’s public infrastructure. Cutting federal funding levels is going to make this worse. The slated-for-elimination Canada Public Transit Fund was created to provide certainty for Canada’s transit agencies and end the annual parade of politics for budget allocations that derails prudent planning. By returning to the status quo ante, transit agencies and municipal leaders must now devote more resources to “collaborating” with Ottawa. It is ironic that Prime Minister Mark Carney repeatedly asks transit workers and bus manufacturers to join him for photo-ops. Just last week in touting a budget that cuts transit funding, he brought the Parliamentary press gallery to an LRT yard to promote it. Back in the spring, he held similar photo-ops at the site of bus manufacturers in Manitoba and Quebec. While the transit railcars and bus manufacturing industries in Canada may not get as much of the attention as the auto sector, thousands work building transit vehicles across Canada and have capacity to do more. The prime minister should maintain the dedicated funding stream that supports their work instead of just using them as a backdrop. Each agency could easily tell you today where they could address service deserts or increase service frequency to increase ridership, creating more equitable communities and a stronger economy, if the funding was there to enable it. Each agency also has a list of shovel-ready projects and vehicles they need to order as soon as possible that could get transit vehicle manufacturers working more. The Economic Benefits of Transit study conducted by the University of Toronto last year showed that for every $1 invested in transit, $7 in economic and social benefits are realized in the community. The thousands who make the buses in Winnipeg and Montreal, support the jobs of 65,000 transit agency staff across the country, who empower five million Canadians to get school, work, and support a functioning Canadian society. It is difficult to believe that a $3-billion annual dedicated transit fund turning into a broader annual catch-all fund for all types of municipal infrastructure is going to lead to better outcomes for riders. And worse, a bureaucratic reorganization of how the federal government allocates funding to support transit projects will lead to a lost year of action as they wade through this new state of paralysis. At the very time when Canada’s economy is struggling, this transit funding cut will make things worse. Public transit must not be viewed simply as a line item expense. It is an investment in our economy and communities that enables so much more. It also lowers climate emissions, reduces gridlock, and makes mobility more affordable for families who are already struggling with a rising cost of living on so many fronts. There is still time to fix this mistake. Members of Parliament can amend the budget to restore the Canada Public Transit Fund so transit agencies can reliably plan their work with federal support. If you ask any transit rider or worker if they would prefer better transit or more photo-ops for politicians after another six months of debating plans, the response would be unanimous. Ottawa must act to correct course before it is too late. David Cooper is a professional urban planner, leading transit expert, and principal and founder at Leading Mobility.

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WFP: Pedestrian killed in north end after being hit by truck (Nov17'25)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. PEDESTRIAN KILLED IN NORTH END AFTER BEING HIT BY TRUCK A 68-year-old man is dead after he was hit by a pickup truck at Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue Saturday afternoon. It happened at 12:43 p.m. Saturday. Police and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel responded and the pedestrian was taken in critical condition to hospital, where he died. The driver was co-operative with police, and the investigation is ongoing. The Winnipeg Police Service is asking anyone who has any information on the collision, including dashboard camera surveillance, to call the WPS Traffic Division at 204-986-7085<tel:204-986-7085> or leave a tip anonymously at Crime Stoppers 204-786-TIPS or winnipegcrimestoppers.org.

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WFP: Close call sparks push for better bike safety (Nov14'25)
by Beth McKechnie 14 Nov '25

14 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Mother calls for bike lane installation and new green signal after son struck by car Close call sparks push for better bike safety https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/13/close-call-sparks… A 10-YEAR-OLD boy needed seven stitches and suffered a chipped tooth after a vehicle collided with his bike and sent him flying at a South Osborne intersection. Crystal Adams said Wednesday her son Jakob, a Grade 5 student at Gladstone School, remained shaken one week after the collision. The mother of two is still processing the phone call she received around 9 a.m. on Nov. 5 and the subsequent events at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg. “Jakob’s tears were coming through the blood. It was an awful scene,” she said. Jakob was travelling northbound and had the right of way when his bike collided with a vehicle that was making a left off Osborne Street onto Brandon Avenue, Adams said. Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer confirmed Thursday traffic officers were called to the collision just after 9 a.m. “Officers spoke to both parties at the scene and particulars were exchanged,” said Spencer, adding the child was sent to hospital. “Officers attended to hospital and followed up with the cyclist. The investigation determined there were no criminal offences.” After the collision, Adams said she heard from a handful of strangers who contacted her to share first-hand experience or knowledge about others who had been hurt at the same intersection. Her two sons used to bike to school together until Jakob’s older brother graduated from Gladstone in the spring. Adams said she had insisted the boys always cycle on the sidewalk because there is no bike lane in the area. Adams is now channelling her anger into calling for change, such as the installation of a bike lane and a new advanced green signal, which would allow for a protected left turn. The Free Press has undertaken an ongoing series examining school zone safety, which is enforced by the Winnipeg Police Service and its photo-radar contractor, throughout the 2025-26 academic year. The Winnipeg School Division was made aware of five pedestrian-involved collisions during the 2024-25 school year. A single incident was designated as “in-school,” meaning it either happened on division property or at a school-related event, during instructional hours or during the commute. The remainder were “external.” The board office did not release its current year-to-date tally on Wednesday, but it includes at least one “inschool” event, given Jakob was biking to school. “This was an unfortunate event and WSD is happy that the child is safe and recovering,” superintendent Matt Henderson said in an email. Division administration supports “all advocacy for traffic calming” and is currently studying “traffic hot spots” within its borders, Henderson said. At the beginning of the school year, the board of trustees penned a letter to city hall to request 30 kilometres per hour school zones be enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dozens of cyclists, parents and children attended a rally at the intersection Thursday as the rush hour began and school let out, to call for safer infrastructure and to support Jakob and his family. Among the attendees was Robyn Dyck, a board member of Bike Winnipeg and mom of a five-year-old boy who rides his bicycle to kindergarten. “If you’ve seen the pictures (of Jakob), I can’t help but see my own kid, and I want a Winnipeg that kids, everyone, can get around without being afraid of being hit by a 4,000-pound weapon,” said Dyck. The attendees held up placards and banners, including one that read “stop hitting kids with cars.” “Our four year old — a bike rider — keeps asking, ‘Are we going to put out a ghost bike?’” Joe Curnow said a day before the rally, referring to memorials that mark life-altering or fatal bike crashes. “It’s appalling he’s so fluent in ghost bikes.” Curnow, who helped organize the event along with the group Safe Speeds Winnipeg, has two young children and researches the evolution of social justice movements at the University of Manitoba. In addition to stitches, Jakob needs dental surgery. He could barely open his mouth in the 24 hours after the collision and an initial emergency visit to the dentist was “traumatic,” his mom said. “He is very, very self-conscious. I’m hoping, once the dental surgery is done, that will help, but he’s said he’s not going to get on his bike for a long time now.” Drawing on more than a decade of road safety advocacy, elementary school teacher Ian Walker said “the tide is changing,” and people like Adams deserve credit. “For the longest time, a child being injured by a car was just the cost of modernity, of having a modern transportation system,” said the father of two, whose resumé includes St. Boniface-area school trustee and Safe Speeds Winnipeg volunteer. Walker noted that near misses and non-fatal incidents are often overlooked. By sharing Jakob’s story, his parents are drawing attention to the serious consequences of road violence and infrastructure gaps, he said. — with files from Erik Pindera maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Spur to Icelandic hamlet part of rail relocation talk (Nov12'25)
by Beth McKechnie 12 Nov '25

12 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Spur to Icelandic hamlet part of rail relocation talk Riding the rails… to Gimli? https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/11/commuter-line-pro… PUBLIC discussions have sparked the idea of building a potential commuter rail corridor between Winnipeg and Gimli as Manitoba’s railway relocation talks continue. The former federal Liberal transport minister leading Manitoba’s study on railway relocation says recent talks have raised the possibility of reworking the CP Winnipeg Beach subdivision — a stretch of rail line that runs from Winnipeg to Gimli — to transport passengers and light cargo. The idea wasn’t included in the province’s most recent interim report, released last month. Lloyd Axworthy, who is heading the two-year, $200,000 rail relocation feasibility study announced in October 2024, said the concept surfaced after that report was completed. “We’ve had some quite important meetings discussing rail line development in the Winnipeg region with a lot of the municipalities,” Axworthy said on Tuesday. “We met with the metro commission to talk to them about how we might be able to look at extending some public transit rail lines out of Winnipeg, so that we’re not just captive to the Perimeter Highway.” During six public consultations, Axworthy said residents expressed not only a desire for more green space and housing, but also for improved public transit options. More and more people are looking beyond the Perimeter for housing. The rail line runs parallel with Highway 8, which Axworthy said is becoming an overcrowded highway. He’s scheduled for more meetings in Winnipeg next week and said Mayor Scott Gillingham has shown interest in the proposal. A light-rail transportation line could strengthen Winnipeg’s position as a transportation hub, Axworthy said. The team has also studied European models that use short, electrified rail cars for regional connections, technology that could help spur a new industry in the city. “Winnipeg is on track to be close to one million people by 2030, so we have to take into account that a lot of that development is going to be happening, and you want to have it in a way that it spreads more and more, and instead consolidate around a rail line that’s already there and refurbish it.” City planners were already eyeing a four-kilometre stretch of disused rail lines in Winnipeg’s Brooklands neighbourhood as the first step toward reimagining the city’s rail network, transforming the abandoned corridor into a new green space. The Westland Project near Notre Dame Avenue and Keewatin Street is one of five pilot projects being looked at in the latest interim report, released by the province late last month. A consultant hired to design the Brooklands redevelopment will present recommendations to the province next month, the report states. Another pilot proposal involves relocating a small active section of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line through River Heights. The team is also exploring options in St. Boniface and Point Douglas, and considering converting a spur line that serves the North End Sewage Treatment Plant. Some community meetings have already been held. Axworthy said residents raised concerns about pollution and the transport of hazardous goods in urban areas. A wider public forum could be held next year. “But what we’re finding, the more we get into the study, is that there are some fairly significant issues emerging, such as how do we provide a kind of regional rail system as opposed to just a city-based one,” Axworthy said. He described the study as an evolving process, with new ideas and recommendations emerging each week. An average of 50 trains travel daily along Winnipeg’s 240 kilometres of active rail lines. A previous study found 75 per cent of Winnipeggers live within 800 metres of a rail line, with 240 crossings across the city. The interim report also urges a review of consolidating the 200-hectare (465-acre) Canadian Pacific Kansas City railyard that separates Winnipeg’s North End from the inner city, following the 2023 CP–Kansas City Southern merger. It calls for financial and technical analyses of phased relocations of both the CPKC and CN’s 321-hectare (793-acre) Symington Yards to reduce impacts on nearby neighbourhoods. A final report with recommendations and projected costs is expected to be submitted to the province in October 2026. Axworthy said the study team doesn’t have to wait until then to make recommendations, however. “We’ve been doing a lot of the prep work, meeting with people, holding consultations, looking at maps and engineering studies,” he said. “From now on, it’s really about implementation and how do we get things done.” scott.billeck(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Feedback sought on temporary Wellington Crescent bike lanes (Nov7'25)
by Beth McKechnie 07 Nov '25

07 Nov '25

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Feedback sought on temporary Wellington Crescent bike lanes https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/11/06/feedback-sought-o… THE City of Winnipeg is seeking feedback on a proposed temporary bike lane design for Wellington Crescent. The lanes, between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue, would be built in the spring, if council approves the project. Council had directed staff members to work with residents to find a way to make the road safer and more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians until funding for permanent changes are available. In July, the public works committee approved a plan to test bike lanes in the 1.2-kilometre area. “This section of Wellington Crescent is one of Winnipeg’s most popular routes for cyclists, but it’s also a busy commuter street,” public works chairwoman Coun. Janice Lukes said in a news release Thursday. “We want to find a design that balances safety with neighbourhood and traffic needs, and that’s why we’re asking for feedback before anything is built.” Traffic measurements done last winter found up to 20 per cent of vehicles driving along Wellington Crescent on weekdays were going at least five km/h above the 50 km/h limit. About eight per cent of drivers were going 60 km/h or faster. Many cyclists have lobbied the city for changes on Wellington since cyclist Rob Jenner was killed by a speeding driver on the street on June 6, 2024. There were at least 10 other incidents in which pedestrians or cyclists were hit by vehicles on that road between 2012 to 2022. The speed limit on Wellington Crescent between Academy and River Avenue will be lowered from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. Wellington Crescent currently has two travel lanes west of Grosvenor Avenue and four lanes between Grosvenor and Stradbrook avenues. The section east of Grosvenor will be reduced to two lanes from four to make room for the bike lanes. The temporary design will include turn restrictions to improve safety. Westbound left turns from Wellington Crescent onto Dorchester Avenue, northbound left turns from Dorchester onto Wellington Crescent and westbound left turns from Gertrude Avenue onto Wellington Crescent would not be allowed under the temporary plan. Roughly 30 parking spots currently available outside of weekday rush hours and on weekends will be removed. They are on the south side of Wellington Crescent between Cockburn Street and Wardlaw Avenue. The intersection of Wellington and Academy is expected to see the biggest traffic changes, the city says on its website. During rush hour, drivers going north or west are expected to experience a delay of about 30 seconds. Eastbound drivers turning left onto the Maryland Bridge will have to wait for a controlled left-turn signal. This change will lengthen the wait time for traffic turning by up to one minute longer during afternoon rush hour and by about 20 seconds during morning rush hour. “These times are dependent on how many eastbound drivers take a different route,” the city’s website states. The westbound lanes will change from separate lanes to one shared lane for traffic continuing west or turning right. “This will make the line of cars longer during busy times for drivers going straight or turning onto the Maryland Bridge,” the city’s website states. The city predicts about 15 to 20 per cent of drivers who currently use Wellington Crescent would choose other routes because of the temporary measures. People can learn more about the draft design online at wfp.to/bikelanes<http://wfp.to/bikelanes> and can complete a survey before Dec. 12. fpcity(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:fpcity@freepress.mb.ca>

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