On April 29, 2021 the Winnipeg city council approved the new Winnipeg Transit Master Plan (WTMP), providing a blueprint for significant transit changes in the city over the next 25 years.
This $1 billion plan overhauls the entire transit system in Winnipeg, extending the existing bus-rapid-transit (BRT) line and adding two more, while adding a new terminal integrated with the downtown train station and a new bus depot. The plan also envisions replacing the existing diesel powered buses with zero-emission buses.
Transit To More
The major aim of the new plan is to bring frequent transit to more city residents. Currently 21% of Winnipeg homes are within a 500m walk to frequent transit service. The system aims to provide nearby frequent transit to 58% of dwellings in Winnipeg by 2045. For an 800m walk, the WTMP intends to provide access to 73% of homes over the current 32%.
The maps below show the current rapid transit availability across the city – focused on Portage Avenue and the new Blue Line to the University of Manitoba – and the planned availability covering much more of the city.
Away From Hub and Spoke
The current transit system is designed around a downtown hub. The system works best when residents are commuting to or from downtown. However, the needs of Winnipeg residents have evolved, and many potential transit users wish to go to other locations. The current system requires one or more transfers to accomplish this, and with infrequent service and few cross-town routes, it is difficult to do this easily.
The WTMP envisions a more linear system with consistent routes day-to-day. The plan will reduce or eliminate many meandering routes in favour of direct, straight line routes that are easier to understand and more efficient. The plan adds 25% to system capacity with no additional resources. The plan does envision an additional 12% increase in service hours due to increased weekend service.
For rapid transit, the plan envisions extending the existing Blue Line west, and adding an east-west Rose Line and a north-south Orange Line. The rapid transit lines will use a combination of new, dedicated infrastructure and transit priority lanes on existing streets. Key to the rapid transit lines is the ability to transfer between rapid transit lines without having to go through downtown.
Feeder lines will bring transit users to/from the rapid transit lines. These feeder lines will include lower frequency lines and on-request services.
Transit Plus Revamped
The existing Transit Plus system for accessible transit has some issues identified in the January 2019 report issued by the Manitoba Ombudsman. The WTMP will revamp this system, and as a first step it will eliminate the trip prioritization policy in the summer of 2021 and restructure its no-show policy.
Transit Plus was already expanded to all locations in the city in January 2021.
New Infrastructure
The majority of the plan envisions using existing streets with new transit priority lanes. However, there are several key capital components to the plan.
The downtown train station, Union Station, will be the central hub of the rapid transit network. A new elevated transitway will bring buses to the track side of the train station, next to the CN main line. These tracks are currently used by the Winnipeg Railway Museum, which will have to relocate. Some routes will use the new transitway and some will stop in front of the station on Main Street.
A new bridge would be built across the Red River east of the University of Manitoba to provide a rapid transit connection to St. Vital Centre and the surrounding area. It is hoped that this bridge will also include active transportation features for pedestrians and cyclists.
Other infrastructure includes fully separated transitways in various parts of the city. The plan envisions a phased approach starting with the downtown hub.
Funding
The plan is divided into four “programs” or phases, with an estimated cost between $800 million and $1.08 billion in total. The first phase, the downtown hub, accounts for more than 25% of these costs. These estimates do not include inflation or financing charges.
One city councillor, Kevin Klein, voted against the plan, saying “we need more fruitful discussion. We need access to quantitative data.”
Funding would come from all levels of government, and the plan anticipates the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to provide $203 million to cover capital costs of the new bus depot, zero-emission buses among others.
For more information: https://winnipegtransit.com/en/major-projects/transit-master-plan