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Funding and additional staff needed to comply with province’s new accessibility standards
Transit upgrades could cost $16M
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/06/23/winnipeg-transit-n...
WINNIPEG Transit says it will need millions of dollars in new funding and additional staff to comply with Manitoba’s new Accessible Transportation Standard Regulation, which takes effect on Jan. 1.
A report before the city’s public works committee estimates the transit service will require about $11.3 million in operating funding, $5.4 million in capital funding and up to 12.5 additional full-time positions over the next five years to meet the province’s accessibility requirements.
Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee, said she’s looking to the province to provide more funding.
Former premier Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative government scrapped a 50-50 funding agreement for Transit in 2016, which had been in place since the 1970s. The city has received a flat $42 million annually since, which critics have argued is a funding cut, due to inflation.
“I’m really hoping that the province will come to the table to help us with this,” Lukes (Waverley West) said Tuesday. “We don’t share in the growth. We just don’t.”
Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard sees things differently.
“We’ve increased support for municipalities year after year because we know strong communities depend on reliable, stable and predictable funding increases,” Simard said in an emailed statement to the Free Press Tuesday.
“Our 2026 budget included making transit free for kids, which not only is an investment in transit across Manitoba, it helps families with the cost of living while encouraging more people to use public transit.”
The ATSR, enacted under the Accessibility for Manitobans Act, sets new standards for conventional transit and Winnipeg Transit Plus, including staff training, support for riders with disabilities, public reporting requirements and upgraded vehicle accessibility standards.
“There are lots of really great things coming for Winnipeg Transit, for accessibility, for conventional and para-transit, so it’s a very positive story … really removing barriers for transportation, which is the goal of Winnipeg Transit,” said Teresa Platt, the city’s manager of client services.
Manitoba will join Ontario as provinces with accessibility regulations.
Transit has already met many of the regulation’s requirements, but several major initiatives remain unfunded, including expanded Transit Plus service, faster eligibility decisions, a support- person program and transit-stop upgrades.
The ATSR requires para-transit service to operate hours comparable to conventional transit and eligibility decisions to be made within 14 days. Transit Plus currently takes about 30 business days to process applications. Appeals would also need to be decided within 30 days.
The report also says as many as 1,100 transit stops may require accessibility upgrades, with common barriers including inadequate snow clearing, blocked curb cuts, inaccessible sidewalks, construction detours and inconsistent stop layouts.
“It mentions that 1,100 stops do not meet the new accessibility requirements. That is a shocking statement that tells us how crucial an infrastructure investment gap we’re seeing,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg.
“It is understandable that with new expectations, some stops might not meet those standards. But 1,100 stops shows us how profoundly Manitobans are being underserved by accessibility to transit.”
At current funding levels, Transit says it can upgrade about 50 stops per year, pushing a completion time to 2050.
Transit says increasing annual funding for stop upgrades could dramatically shorten the timeline, from roughly 22 years under current funding levels to as little as seven years with additional investment.
While the regulation does not set a deadline for stop upgrades, Transit recommends accelerating the work to align with the 2042 vehicle accessibility deadline.
The ATSR also requires support persons to travel free of charge. Transit currently does not operate a general support-person program and says it would need to create an application and identification-card system to administer one. The service estimates the change would reduce annual fare revenue by about $45,000 on conventional transit and $10,000 on Transit Plus.
Separate from the funding requested to comply with the province’s new accessibility regulations, Transit is also seeking additional funding to overhaul the Transit Plus service, which will go before city council.
The Transit Plus overhaul would require a phased increase in spending, from about $632,000 in 2027 to nearly $7.9 million annually by 2031, largely driven by additional staffing, contractor hours and technology upgrades.
The current adopted 2026 budget for the Transit Plus service is $13.3 million and includes 46 dedicated full-time equivalent positions. An additional 8.5 FTEs would be required for Phase 1, along with three more in Phase 2 and one in Phase 3.
The proposed overhaul would replace the current medical-based eligibility system with one based on a person’s ability to use conventional transit. It would also relax some service rules, increase carry-on limits and introduce a “family of services” model allowing riders to combine Transit Plus, conventional transit and on-request service within a single trip.
Transit estimates the changes could increase Transit Plus ridership by up to 20 per cent, with annual trips rising from about 312,000 in 2025 to nearly 486,000 by 2031. To handle that growth, the report calls for additional contracted service hours, technology upgrades and new staff, including travel trainers, administrative support workers and customer service personnel.
The changes would be rolled out between 2027 and 2029.
Officials say the plan would modernize Transit Plus and improve accessibility, but warn that significant new funding will be needed to keep pace with growing demand and to maintain service levels.
The funding requests come as Winnipeg Transit faces broader financial pressures. Last month, the service projected an $18.4-million revenue shortfall following last year’s network redesign.
— With files from Joyanne Pursaga
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.camailto:scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca