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During the early 1960s, the Planning Department of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg undertook a major planning effort with the stated purpose being "to secure and promote the orderly growth and economic development of the area of planning jurisdiction."
The document which resulted from this planning effort was the Metropolitan Development Plan, which plan received approval from the Minister of Municipal Affairs of the Province of Manitoba on April 2, 1968, and third and final reading from Metro Council on April 11, 1968, thereby forming By-law 1117 of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg.
The general objectives of the Development Plan were stated as follows:
- to organize urban growth so as to promote efficiency, amenity, economic growth and flexibility for future change;
- to distribute population in densities appropriate for living, working, personal development and recreation;
- to further the preceding objectives by providing those public services that are the responsibility of the Corporation and to influence the provision of public services by others;
- to promote private investment of the objectives established in the Plan;
- to develop and pursue such policies, administrative methods and programs that may be necessary to further the objectives in general or any specific feature of the Plan.
The component of the Plan devoted to transportation examined the following areas: the thoroughfare system, the public transit system, the railway systems, the air systems, and the underground and overhead distribution systems.
The thoroughfare system included in the Metropolitan Development Plan represented the first stage of a total system, the second stage of which was to follow based on the recommendations of the Winnipeg Area Transportation Study (WATS).
During this same period of time (the early 1960s), a major transportation planning study was also underway within the Streets and Transit Division of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. Extensive data was collected during 1962 from a number of sources including:
- a home interview origin-destination survey involving nearly 100% of the dwelling units in Winnipeg; - traffic counts at major intersections, major river crossings and other locations around the downtown periphery; - vehicular speed studies taken during the A.M. peak hour; - transit ridership counts at maximum load points, at major river crossings and other locations around the downtown periphery; - transit vehicular speed studies taken during the A.M. peak hour.
The third and final volume of the Winnipeg Area Transportation Study (WATS) was published in 1968. The recommended system, as proposed in the W.A.T.Study, was adopted in principle by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg in 1969.
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As a result of the dated nature of the Greater Winnipeg Development Plan (it is based on 1961 census data and projections of future growth made in the early 1960s), Council ordered a review of the Plan. In December 1976, an agreement was signed between Council, the Province of Manitoba and the Government of Canada for the funding of a review of the Greater Winnipeg Development Plan.
The Review of the Greater Winnipeg Development Plan has been undertaken by a combination of administrative staff (the study team within the Department of Environmental Planning, and other staff resources within the Streets and Transportation Division, and the Parks and Recreation Department), and outside consultants. This report describes and summarizes the work undertaken in the transportation component by staff within the Transportation Planning Section of the Streets and Transportation Division.
In 1962 Metro Corporation undertook its first area-wide travel survey in order to provide base data for the Winnipeg Area Transportation Study. All homes within the Metropolitan area were surveyed, with data being collected on the destination, time of departure, time of arrival, and mode of travel for all work trips originating in that household. At the time as the home interview survey was being conducted, other surveys were being carried out to obtain information regarding postsecondary educational travel, travel characteristics on the regional street and transit system (including travel time, travel volumes, etc.), and a variety of demographic characteristics. In 1971 and 1976 this basic data collection procedure was repeated using a 20% sample of all homes in the Metropolitan Area. In both these latter cases, the home interview survey was expanded to include information relative to the reason for one's choice of travel mode and other demographic data which could be usefully related to travel characteristics.
Using information obtained from the surveys of 1962, 1971, and 1976, members of the Transportation Planning Section prepared a document entitled ...- Travel and Demographic Trends 1962 - 1976. This publication documented relevant statistics related to travel and demographic conditions existing in 1976 and trends in these same statistics during the period 1962 to 1976.
Major observations and conclusions which can be drawn from the demographic data include:
- The study area population increased by 20.5% to to 566,813, which population within the defined inner area of the city decreased by 7.5%. - The number of dwelling units within the study area increased by 52% to 191,918. Dwelling units within the inner area increased by 22.4% (even though the population in this same area had decreased by 7.5%). - Dwelling units increased at more than twice the rate of the increase in population. - The average number of persons per dwelling unit decreased from 3.73 in 1962 to 2.95 in 1976. - Patterned employment within the study area increased by 48%. - Two-thirds of the city's patterned employment is concentrated in eight relatively small areas of the city. - The number of passenger vehicles registered in the city increased by 70%. - Average income per dwelling unit during the period 1962 -1976 increased by approximately 150%.Major observations and conclusions which can be drawn from the travel data portrayed include:
- The proportion of workers commuting by public transit during the A.M. peak hour decreased from 28.1% to 21.9%, while the proportion driving their auto increased from 51.2% to 57.2%. - Only the downtown area, the University of Manitoba, and the Health Sciences Centre (Winnipeg General Hospital area) attract a significant proportion of commuters to public transit. - The outlying industrial parks are heavily dependent upon the private auto for commuting purposes. - Travel times for public transit users are approximately twice those for persons using their private automobiles. - The average city-wide auto occupancy has not increased. - The duration of the peak hours has been increasing.Major observations and conclusions which can be drawn from the data presented on the regional street and transit systems include:
- Winnipeg's regional street system is almost totally radially oriented. - A number of major radial streets are carrying very substantial traffic flows. - The number of signalized intersections experiencing congestion during the peak hours has increased significantly. - Severe peaking still occurs on the regional street system during the morning and afternoon "rush periods." - Substantial off-street parking exists in the downtown area. - The number of bus routes has increased from 37 to 51. - The size of the bus fleet has increased by 23.6% to 534 vehicles. - The number of yearly bus miles operated increased by 22.8%. - The number of yearly revenue passengers increased by 16.1%. - Ridership per capita decreased marginally between 1962 and 1976. - The transit system suffers from extreme peaking conditions during the morning and afternoon rush periods. - Transit operating costs have increased at a more rapid rate than has the revenue received through the operation of the system.
Major observations and conclusions which can be drawn from the data presented on the transit system include:
- The transit system network is comprised of 51 routes operating over a total of 313.5 route miles. - The transit fleet consists of 575 units, 82% of which are 51-seat diesel powered buses. - The acquisition of new buses has been very irregular. Storage capacity for transit vehicles is adequate at the present time. - During the peak hours, system capacity is being closely matched to demand on the major routes (within policies presently set down by Council). - Capacity on a number of routes is considerably in excess of theoretical requirements due to maximum headway restrictions, greater loads in the outbound direction, requirement to balance the number of buses on each side of a through downtown route, etc. - Average transit vehicle operating speeds are approximately half the auto operating speeds.
Although it has been previously noted that the transit system does not presently suffer from the same capacity deficiencies as does the street system (due to the ability to "fine tune" capacity by the addition or deletion of buses), many of the measures recommended in the previous section dealing with the street system would be equally beneficial to the operation of the transit system or its customers. These beneficial measures would include: increased auto occupancy, downtown parking limitations, peak hour parking restrictions, mid-day on-street parking restrictions, optimized traffic signal operation, and various railway grade separations. On the other hand, the wide-implementation of various methods of implementing alternative work schedules could have a negative impact on transit usage in that some present transit users may now find the less congested street system makes the automobile a more attractive mode of travel.
In addition to the above-noted recommendations, there are some additional transit specific measures that should be considered.
Although the transit system does not suffer from any substantial capacity deficiencies, it is under major financial pressure as a result of three main factors: the need to provide service to many low density, suburban residential (and industrial) areas, the highly labour-intensive nature of the service and the increasing price of petroleum products.
A number of possibilities exist which may allow the transit system to withdraw (or at the very least reduce) transit service presently provided in low density, suburban areas. These possibilities are as follows: Park & Ride lots, shared taxi service and subscription bus service. A combination of these services as described in Non-Capital Intensive Options - Volume I - A State of the Art Review is recommended as follows:
<ol> <li>that Park & Ride lots be constructed at strategic locations along the major radial transit corridors (and also in conjunction with future exclusive transit corridors) utilizing existing city-owned property whenever available;</li> <li>that subscription bus service be encouraged to large employment centres located outside the central area;</li> <li>that a study be undertaken into the possibility of withdrawing feeder routes in various low density, suburban areas and the replacement of this service with a subsidized, shared taxi service feeding the major line haul routes.</li> </ol>
An attractive possibility of reducing the high labour costs presently encountered in urban transit is the use of higher capacity vehicles such as the articulated bus. Winnipeg Transit should investigate in detail the application of high capacity buses in two potential situations: as all-day service on the major routes and as additional peak period buses on other routes in the system. This study should identify the number of high capacity buses which would be appropriate for the Winnipeg system and the potential annual savings in (labour) operating costs.
Recent increases in the cost of diesel fuel have resulted in the suggestion that the electrification of the Winnipeg Transit system should be considered. Recent calculations have shown that at present (1981) prices the electrification of the system (i.e. trolleybuses) is not financially viable. In order for the savings in energy cost to equal the increased cost of maintaining the electrical infrastructure, the cost of diesel fuel would have to increase 65% relative to hydro electric power costs.
In order for the savings in energy cost to offset the cost of both the maintenance of the electrical infrastructure and the amortized cost of the initial capital cost, diesel fuel prices would have to increase to at least 4.5 times today's price with no increase in hydro electric costs. On the basis of this information, it is recommended that the electrification of the Winnipeg Transit system no be considered at this time.
Generally speaking, for each of the land use options discussed in the previous section, three alternative transportation strategies were considered and tested. These strategies can be described as follows:
Minimal Investment: These options assume that the adopted 1979-1983 Five Year Capital Program would be implemented by 1999, that only those street improvements critically required within the developing areas would be made, that only incremental extensions to the transit system would be made, and that non-capital intensive transportation options would be emphasized. Transit Oriented: These options assume that major improvements would be made to the transit system primarily for radial movements and that improvements would be made to the street system for crosstown or circumferential movements. In addition, these options also assume that non-capital intensive options would be emphasized. Street Oriented: These options assume that major improvements would be made to the street system for both radial and cross-town circumferential movements, and that non-capital intensive options would be emphasized.ii) Transit Oriented Option
In keeping with the basic philosophy of the "transit oriented approach," this option assumes improvements to the cross-town street system by means of extensions to existing cross-town facilities such as Bishop Grandin Boulevard and Kenaston Boulevard and extensions to facilities proposed in the 1979 to 1983 Five Year (Capital) Program (i.e., the Kildonan Bridge Corridor, and the Charleswood Bridge Corridor). The addition of an entirely new crosstown route (the North/South Transcona Corridor) has also been assumed. In addition to these crosstown route improvements, one new radial route has been assumed under this option to alleviate a serious lack of capacity in the existing Nairn/Regent Corridor. This facility, the Eastern Thoroughfare, would consist initially of an extension of Provencher Boulevard to the east. Other regional street improvements assumed in this option generally fall into the category of upgradings within the developing areas.
Major improvements are assumed to the radial transit system in the form of new exclusive transit corridors. Exclusive corridors are assumed in the northwest (along the CPR Arborg Subdivision), in the northeast (along the Gateway-Raleigh Corridor), in the southeast (along the CPR Emerson Subdivision), and in the southwest (adjacent to the CNR Mainline), as well as the conversion of Graham Avenue into an exclusive Transit Mall. Extensions to the Southwest and Eastern Transit Corridors are also assumed in this option. On a number of major radial corridors, where no right-of-way exists for the construction of exclusive transit corridors, the designation of the curb lane as an exclusive transit lane has been assumed during the peak periods. This occurs on Portage Ave., Main St., and McPhillips/Notre Dame/Cumberland. In addition to these major improvements to the existing transit system, the addition of express bus service to areas of new development has also been assumed as well as various route extensions and additional feeder buses.
The preceding analysis has identified the Transit Oriented/Containment option as the preferred transportation/land use alternative. Accordingly, this option was reviewed in greater detail and modified reflecting the results of the analysis undertaken. This refined Transit Oriented/Containment option is now presented here as the Recommended Option for accommodating the future development of the city. This Recommended Transportation/Land Use option, when combined with the recommendations made in the areas of maintaining the existing system (Chapter 4) and resolving existing capacity deficiencies (Chapter 5) represents the Recommended System.
The construction of a number of two-lane roadways for the exclusive use of transit vehicles is included . These exclusive transit corridors are proposed in order to provide free flow transit service along major radial corridors as follows: the Southwest Transit Corridor along the CNR Mainline and Letellier Subdivision from Pioneer Ave. to Bison Dr., the Eastern Transit Corridor along the CNR Mainline from Pioneer Ave. to Regent Ave. in Transcona, the Southeast Transit Corridor along the CPR Sprague and Emerson Subdivisions from the Eastern Transit Corridor to the Trans-Canada Hwy., the Northwest Transit Corridor along the CPR Arborg Subdivision from McPhillips St., to Inkster Blvd., and the conversion of Graham Avenue into an exclusive Transit Mall.
On a number of major radial streets in corridors where the construction of exclusive transit facilities is not possible, the designation of exclusive bus lanes has been included (e.g. Portage Ave., Main St., and McPhillips/Notre Dame/Cumberland).
The system of Express buses has been expanded to most areas of new development, making use of the exclusive transit corridors or exclusive bus lanes wherever possible. Where required, existing routes have been extended and new feeders added in order to service newly developing areas.
In order to accommodate the anticipated growth in the size of the bus fleet by 1999, a new storage facility with a capacity of 200 buses has been included for the northeast sector of the city.