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Fear overhaul will trade cars for buses on greenway

Wolseley residents pan Transit plan

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/06/11/wolseley-residents...

WOLSELEY residents are asking Winnipeg Transit to pause their neighbourhood’s portion of a citywide bus network overhaul, arguing the changes could undermine a reduced-speed route designed to safely serve cyclists and pedestrians.

A network transformation of bus routes is set to alter almost every city route, bring buses closer to many residents and increase bus frequency, starting on June 29, 2025, with council slated to vote on the exact changes this month.

Some residents fear part of a newly proposed No. 28 route that’s set to travel over the Wolseley Avenue neighbourhood greenway and interfere with its objective to welcome active transportation. The greenway recently saw its permanent speed limit drop to 30 km/h and got new speed humps to help slow traffic.

“There’s huge support for the new greenway on Wolseley Avenue. Residents want transit to co-exist with Wolseley, not overwhelm it, not undermine its livability, not change it from a walkable and family friendly community into a major bus thoroughfare,” said Rachel Morgan.

Morgan said the residents don’t oppose the Transit investment but the proposed path would include old, narrow roads that are well used by pedestrians and cyclists and weren’t designed to handle so many buses, raising the risk of crashes and injuries.

“Running 130 buses a day through a residential bottleneck will be neither efficient nor reliable. That’s why residents urge council to pause the plan for Wolseley. Please give us time to properly consult with Transit,” she said.

The group’s estimate is based on one bus passing through every 7.5 minutes between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. the following day. City staff said later the actual frequency would be much lower, often about one bus every 15 minutes.

The residents said 467 people signed a petition to support pausing the Wolseley area changes.

Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy suggested relocating the No. 28 route around Wolseley to address the concerns. The currently proposed route would travel south down Arlington Street, then head east down the Wolseley greenway toward Academy Road. Instead, she asked that the route stay off Wolseley entirely by having buses travel south on Arlington, then go east on Broadway before heading south on Academy.

The councillor also stressed the greenway isn’t suited to heavy bus traffic.

“If you go down there around 8:30 to 8:45 (a.m.) you are going to see a mass of kids, children riding their bikes … And then you see a mass of adults riding their bikes … I think that Wolseley residents would rather walk a little ways to a (high) frequency (transit) line (than have this route),” she said.

Another Wolseley resident expressed concerns that the plan’s removal of the current No. 10 bus route would force her to walk 20 minutes further to catch a ride.

“I don’t know how that is even a conceivable idea in winter,” said Kathryn Martin

Winnipeg Transit officials expect the overall network overhaul to roughly double the number of people who are in walking distance of frequent transit service, with a bus arriving at least every 10 minutes on the most frequent routes during rush hour.

A Transit advocate said those changes are desperately needed.

“(This) is essentially taking the system we have right now and blowing it up and starting over again, (which) is exactly what needs to be done. It is focused on getting people from where they are to where they want to go more efficiently,” said Brian Pincott, a spokesman for Functional Transit Winnipeg.

Pincott urged councillors not to alter specific changes, which he said could result in a less efficient system.

“This is an integrated, linked network and the moment you start whittling away at any one of those links, the whole thing could fall apart or not function very well,” he said.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, told media she does have concerns about increased traffic on greenways, which aim to slow vehicles down.

“Do we want buses travelling regularly on a greenway route? Personally, I wouldn’t. But (we also) want to deliver bus service to Wolseley,” she said.

Lukes (Waverley West) noted any changes council approves will be reviewed in 2026, about a year after the new routes are expected to take effect. She said there was extensive planning and consultation on the new transit network, though many public meetings were forced online during the pandemic.

“This is all because we want to deliver better transit service. We want to have higher frequency. We want to have dependable service,” she said.

On Tuesday evening, the public works committee voted to move the new route plan forward, while requiring additional consultation.

Any route changes would be subject to a final council vote.

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