Winnipeg Transit’s route back to reliability begins, ends at Legislative Building

Winnipeg Transit is drowning in a sea of self-created misadventure.

As outlined in a “state of the system” report released this week on the first anniversary of Winnipeg Transit’s complete overhaul, the negatives are profoundly overwhelming the positives.

The much-touted reimagination of routes and schedules has been a disaster, turning off more riders than it has attracted. Now, public transit in Manitoba’s capital city is teetering on the edge of destruction: it is short on buses and drivers, security remains a persistent issue, ridership is tanking and the city is facing an $18-million deficit on transit operations.

The big question now is, who will come to Winnipeg Transit’s rescue? (Spoiler alert: the “who” in this equation is, obviously, the provincial NDP government.)

The province does have a responsibility to help fund transit, and for good reason. The city is revenue-poor and, with ridership declining, it’s unlikely that property taxpayers would welcome an increased burden just to keep Winnipeg Transit running.

Unfortunately for riders and advocates, Premier Wab Kinew has been cool to the idea of doing anything bold to bolster funding for public transit in the capital city.

It should be noted, for fairness, that the province will provide $42 million this year to help cover the estimated $264-million Winnipeg Transit operating budget. It has also provided tens of millions of additional dollars to help buy new buses.

However, the problem is that as costs have gone up, the province’s overall contribution to operating expenses has remained flat. With inflation up and with ridership down, the city is trapped in a vicious cycle of underfunding.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the city’s public works committee, conceded this week additional investment is needed to bring the new system to optimal performance.

However, the Waverley West councillor — who announced Wednesday that she won’t be seeking re-election in the fall — said instead of doing all of the needed enhancements now in a bid to attract people who’ve turned to other forms of transportation, the city will have to “pick what we can afford.”

That statement is the equivalent of an emergency flare, fired southwest from city hall in the direction of the Legislative Building. Will the province respond?

The Kinew government is in the process of unleashing a new $10-million initiative to provide free youth transit passes across Manitoba that provincial policymakers believe could push more money to cash-strapped municipalities; it remains to be seen if the result is any net new money for them.

For the program to fulfil its promise, it would have to convince youth who are not currently using transit to give it a try. If the new passes are snapped up only by youth already paying for passes, then it’s a revenue wash for struggling municipal transit services.

Could there be more funding, even on an emergency basis? There is absolutely no indication that Kinew is planning to bestow a whack of additional money to placate frustrated riders, even in a city where the NDP won 29 of 32 seats in the last provincial election.

NDP sources say the premier is frustrated over the way the city has managed the rollout of the new routes and schedules and is, in fact, a little perplexed about why the project was undertaken, at all.

That is likely a good question to ask, given that it appears the city never had the money to deliver on all of the new features it promised.

Some of the technology that was acquired to improve overall service — particularly GPS tracking to allow real-time information on bus locations — failed early on and wasn’t reliably operational for more than four months. In a world where it’s possible to follow, in real time, the delivery of a pizza or the arrival of a ride-booking vehicle, the failure to provide up-to-date information on city buses would appear to be an extraordinary shortcoming.

Other touted upgrades, such as a modern tap-and-go payment system, were pushed back, as well.

The city didn’t issue a request for proposals for a new payment system until December, months after the overhauled route map was unveiled. The current payment system — paper tickets, cash and the much-loathed Peggo card — is a huge turnoff for many people who might be persuaded to take a bus, but don’t want to contend with the current fare-payment frustration.

The real tragedy here is that there were real improvements that have been obscured by the rollout’s shortcomings. Kyle Owens, president of the advocacy group Functional Transit Winnipeg, told the Free Press that initial complaints about the frequency of buses on main routes and inadequate night-time service have, largely, been addressed.

If you can take the good things that happened in the rollout, move quickly to smooth out the rough spots and find the money to make taking the bus a more attractive commuting option, it’s entirely possible that Winnipeg Transit’s tattered brand can be repaired.

Unfortunately, the only way that is going to happen is with help from the Kinew government. Left on its own, the city will not have the money to make the necessary improvements.

The province should remember this: if transit implodes, there will be more than enough blame to go around. Even for the premier.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca