New Winnipeg Transit network schedules now available online
City plans to launch new transit payment system in 2027
Winnipeg Transit riders can now plan their future bus routes using the new network the city plans to launch this summer.
The Navigo feature on the Winnipeg Transit website has been updated with a feature that allows users to toggle between the current route map and the new schedule set to launch on June 29.
Mayor Scott Gillingham says it's the biggest single change in Winnipeg Transit's history.
"It's not just a change in schedules, it's a change in how we think about public transit," Gillingham said during a news conference at the Osborne Street transit garage on Thursday.
"We're sometimes criticized in the city for maybe not taking big, bold action. Well, make no mistake — this is big, this is bold change."
The existing "hub-and-spoke" transit system, which takes passengers between downtown and outlying areas, will be replaced with a more grid-like pattern of high-frequency bus routes that will travel along major streets as well as smaller feeder routes that will go through residential and industrial neighbourhoods.
Chae Tsai takes the bus every day, often riding the 78 route from Charleswood to Polo Park, where he connects with other routes.
He's not happy about the upcoming changes, which will force him to transfer buses more often.
Trying to find information about how his routes will change has also been difficult, he said.
"Everything is in complete chaos in my eyes," he told CBC News while waiting for a bus at the Polo Park transit loop.
"It could have been much better planned and organized. I still don't understand the routes and a lot of the drivers who I spoke to felt the same way — that they're amongst the last to know about a lot of routes, and they weren't happy."
Transit drivers need more training, says union
The president of the union representing transit drivers says the city needs to do more training to get drivers comfortable with the new system.
Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1500, said drivers won't be able to help riders navigate the new routes.
"No longer do they know how to get from Grace Hospital to St. Boniface Hospital. Before, you could give them four or five different options. Now it's going to be, 'I'm sorry, I don't know. It's gonna take me as long to learn as it's gonna take you,'" Scott said.
For bus rider Sydney Lopez, the new routes will take some getting used to.
"At first I'm going to be jarred, like, 'Oh wow, new bus stops.' But otherwise, I think we will manage in like a few months or so," Lopez said.
Public works committee chair Coun. Janice Lukes, whose Waverley West ward has had the spine-and-feeder model of transit service for years, expects the change to have a positive impact on the number of people riding.
"I can tell you as the councillor who underwent this transformational change in 2020, it will make transit better, so much better that … probably our next big issue will be overcrowding on the buses," she said.
New payment system
On top of a new route network, transit staff have recommended switching to a new payment system.
The new system will allow people to pay fares with a debit or credit card, and also cap your transit fares once you reach a certain amount.
"So if you don't know if you're going to take enough trips to hit the day pass limit, you don't have to prepay that. You just use it until you hit that limit," said Bjorn Radstrom, manager of transit service development.
The new payment system is expected to be ready in 2027, at a cost of $10.5 million. The 2024 budget included $6.5 million for the new payment system.
A report recommending additional capital funding of $4 million will be discussed at the public works committee meeting next Tuesday. Funding for the new payment system needs approval from council.
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