Pandemic, system overhaul blamed for delayed transit master plan

The next Winnipeg Transit Master Plan update could arrive two years late, after staff were diverted to handle pandemic demands and implement a new primary transit network.

A new report requests the update originally expected this year be delayed to mid-2028, a few months after a preliminary design on downtown rapid transit corridors is expected.

“(During the COVID-19 pandemic) regular work was disrupted for a period of more than two years, due to the need to create five different schedule scenarios for each of the four seasonal schedule periods, while also developing the implementation plan for the primary transit network,” writes Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit’s manager of service development.

City council approved the master plan in April 2021, in a vote that required a five-year update on its progress.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee, said she will support the extension, which requires full city council approval.

“It’s not the end of the world…. People wanted better transit, we changed the routes (first). That was a big focus, so all of this has put (the update) behind. It’s completely understandable,” said Lukes (Waverley West).

A city council direction to implement the new network in June 2025, instead of a previous 2026 target, came shortly after pandemic planning ate up substantial time, she noted.

“When COVID came… the whole focus was not on the master plan. The whole focus was how do we keep buses running… how do we distance, all of that,” said Lukes.

The councillor said ample work on improving transit will continue, by refining routes, studying downtown transit changes and analyzing bus stop locations.

“The big picture can be a little further out. We’ve got a lot of day-to-day issues that we’re resolving in transit,” she said.

The head of an organization for local bus riders said he agrees Winnipeg Transit planners have been extremely busy.

“They moved mountains to implement a primary transit network, while doing that planning during a pandemic and on a shoestring budget,” said Kyle Owens, president of Functional Transit Winnipeg.

However, Owens urged the city to follow through with previously recommended steps to add bus lanes, create more priority traffic signals and plan a north-south orange line for rapid transit, and not wait for the update to do so.

“There is a concern that this (delay) is going to be used as cover by the city to kick the can down the road on funding and implementation…. We cannot let a two-year extension turn into further extensions and further reviews and further delays,” he said.

The public works committee is set to discuss the report at its meeting Wednesday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga