Winnipeg Transit officials are proposing changes to several routes serving the downtown area, as a new survey of downtown business stakeholders suggests respondents find it harder to get there by bus.
Adam Budowski, a senior transit planner with Winnipeg Transit, said staff are proposing changes to routes D16, D18 and D19, in a report that will head to council next week.
Budowski said D16 has had “very poor on-time performance,” with buses arriving too early or too late, despite scheduling tweaks. The proposed changes would split the route into two separate sections, he said.
“People will notice much better on-time performance on both the D16 and the D18. We’re hoping that improves a lot,” Budowski said.
Route D19 would end closer to stops on Vaughan Street instead of the terminal at Webb Place, based on feedback from Downtown Winnipeg Biz and other stakeholders, he said.
Adam Budowski, a senior transit planner with Winnipeg Transit, says proposed changes to a trio of downtown bus routes will be presented to council next week. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)
If approved by council, those changes would come into effect in June.
A new survey conducted by Probe Research for Downtown Winnipeg BIZ suggests that 84 per cent of respondents are unhappy with the new transit system introduced last June. Just over two-thirds of people said they were very unhappy.
The open survey — which is not a representative sample of all transit users in Winnipeg — was completed by 1,395 BIZ members and stakeholders over a six-week period starting in December.
About 70 per cent of respondents said they are visiting downtown less than they used to.
Downtown Winnipeg BIZ CEO Kate Fenske said she isn’t surprised with the survey’s results. She said she’s been hearing from downtown businesses and community members who have been frustrated with the new transit system.
Kate Fenske, chief executive officer of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, says the recent transit system overhaul has negatively impacted some businesses in the city’s downtown. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)
Fenske said there is a “great opportunity here to improve the system” and the city appears open to making changes.
“I think every time we can make a tweak and an improvement to the system, that’s going to be well-received,” Fenske said.
“We’re hoping that the city is making changes as quickly as they can because it is having an impact on downtown businesses and people that want to get here,” she said.
According to the survey, respondents saw their average commute times increase by 22 minutes.
Transit user Nolan Day, who takes the bus from his home in the St. James area to the University of Winnipeg every day, said his commute time has doubled since the transit changes came into effect last summer.
“It takes longer and it takes more buses for me to get home now. It turned from a 20-minute bus ride to about 40, to an hour at times, and I’m spending more time in the cold,” Day said, adding the proposed changes to some downtown routes won’t make his ride on the D15 bus any better.
Budowski said the survey was “a little disheartening,” for transit officials, who met with Downtown Winnipeg BIZ stakeholders last week.
“We need to pull up our socks and we’ve got to make sure that we’re making good changes that help our passengers out,” he said.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city values the feedback, but he questioned whether the survey was “statistically balanced.” He said the proposed adjustments to the trio of routes will “better serve downtown.”
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said city transit officials will continue ‘refining and retooling the transit system until we get it right.’ (Travis Golby/CBC)
“I’ve said all along that the big change we made to the primary transit network was the right decision, but I’m not pleased with the way it has rolled out,” Gillingham said.
“We’ll keep refining and retooling the transit system until we get it right.”
Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who chairs the city’s public works committee, said the proposed changes will “make a big difference” for transit users.
“It’s not the silver bullet to make all the difference, but it will make a big difference, and we’ll continue working with the Downtown BIZ and monitoring the changes that have been made to continue making improvements,” Lukes said.
Starting in April, more buses will be running along some of the city’s busiest routes, Budowski said. Ten fixed routes will also see service hours extended past midnight in the upcoming spring schedule.