DAN HENDRY

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/09/10/growing-pains-maybe-but-its-worth-it

WITH Winnipeg’s free youth transit pass rolling out this month, the city should expect more young people to use the bus.

This is not a flaw in the program. It is one of the key benefits. I have spent more than a decade working on youth transit in Kingston, Ont., and more recently with communities across Canada. The lesson I keep coming back to is simple: when young people are given the chance to learn transit — use it and see it as a normal part of life — they become more confident riders. Over time, many become paying riders, too.

Even so, operational costs are a valid consideration. Winnipeg Transit runs a real system with real limits. Buses fill up. And if full buses are consistently passing people by, that hurts everyone.

The city knows this and is responding accordingly. September’s rollout will be staggered to give Transit a chance to watch where demand appears and then adjust. According to the Winnipeg School Division, older students are expected to receive passes first, with other grades following through September. This is specifically to give the system more room to adapt.

What we should avoid is treating every new rider, crowded bus or early growing pain as evidence the idea is failing.

And it’s important to remember that eligible youth are not the same thing as brand-new riders. Winnipeg Transit estimates roughly 65,000 youth are eligible for the program and initially planned around 30,000 passes. The city’s report notes that roughly 15,000 youth already purchase passes.

For those riders, the person on the bus is not new; it’s just who’s paying for the trip that’s changing. Young people will also use transit differently. Not everyone travels downtown at 8 a.m. Some trips happen after school, in the evening or on weekends. Some students will ride every day. Others will use the pass occasionally.

The important thing is to measure what happens instead of assuming the worst before the program starts.

Winnipeg is already planning additional peak-period service and more trips on feeder routes serving high schools. This is the right approach: implement, collect data, identify pressure points and adjust.

And let’s not forget the longer-term payoff for the whole community.

Kingston started providing high school students with free transit access in 2012, adding grades over time. Research on the program found Grade 12 students used transit about three times as often as Grade 9 students. That makes intuitive sense. As teenagers gain independence, get jobs, volunteer and travel farther from home, their transportation needs grow. Because they already know the system, transit is an option they understand.

The more interesting number comes later.

Kingston’s annual after-high-school youth monthly-pass sales increased from 5,740 in 2018 to 11,934 in 2025. That is an increase of approximately 108 per cent. Youth transit cannot be judged only as a short-term fare policy. It is also rider development.

A teenager who learns to use transit becomes a young adult who understands the benefit of transit. That person may one day buy a pass, advocate for better routes or vote for transit investment.

There are immediate benefits for the community, too. Every independent trip can connect a young person to public investments we have already made — schools, recreation centres, libraries, parks, employment programs, cultural facilities and community services — along with providing them access to local businesses as patrons and employees. It can also give a parent back the time they would otherwise spend driving.

None of this means Winnipeg should ignore capacity. Quite the opposite.

The ultimate success of this program will require listening to operators and planners, watching for overcrowding, funding the service required and changing course if the evidence says to. It will also involve recognizing that a successful transit system is supposed to attract riders.

There will probably be bumps this fall. Winnipeg is introducing a significant program into a large system during one of its busiest periods. Let’s give it room to work. Measure it carefully. Fix problems quickly. And keep the longer view in sight.

If more young Winnipeggers learn that the bus can take them to school, work, recreation and the rest of their community, that is not a transit problem.

That is how you build the next generation of transit riders.

Dan Hendry is project director of Get on the Bus, a national youth transit initiative through Small Change Fund, and helped develop Kingston’s youth transit program.