Was there ever a more welcome innovation for Winnipeggers than Transit's Tele-bus service when it was introduced back in the 1980s?
No longer did you have to consult a confusing and possibly out-of-date schedule to determine when your next bus would arrive or, even worse, stand outside in the cold, eyes searching the horizon in vain for that familiar orange and yellow vehicle.
Suddenly you could just call the number pasted up at your stop, and that robotic female voice would reassure you that your bus was on its way.
Now Winnipeg Transit has entered the 90s with a web site (www.winnipegtransit.com/) with information on special services, fares and travel tips ("One passenger's music is another passengers's noise"), as well as schedules and maps for all routes.
You can find your nearest stop and get details on all buses that stop there (just like Tele-bus) and find out what changes took place when the new schedule kicked in on September 5.
It doesn't seem very practical to go online to find out when your next bus comes -- the Tele-bus fembot is still best for that -- but for everything else, the Transit site is a good stop.
Long before there was an official Transit site, a local enthusiast built Unofficial Winnipeg Transit Online (www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/uwto/), and the site has many of the same details on fares and schedules.
But where UWTO diverges is in the advocacy position it takes for improving Transit services in the city, and its creator, Jim Jaworski, has in the meantime become Chair of Citizens for Better Public Transit in Winnipeg. But enthusiasts will find some good photos at UWTO, and also at www.mts.net/~imoore/buses.htm, a Manitoba Bus History page.
Other commuters in the city prefer a bike to get around, and there's no shortage of sites for urban cyclists on the web. The Manitoba Cycling Association has a jam-packed page at www.cycling.mb.ca/index.htm, with tips for local cyclists, bike route descriptions, racing and touring info, and links to numerous cycling clubs. Of particular interest to Winnipeg cyclists is Icebike (www.enteract.com/~icebike/), a site for brave winter riders.
Elizabeth is online.
E-mail her with site tips
and column suggestions
at betty3@hotbot.com
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