WINNIPEG Transit riders will be able to wait comfortably inside 37 new heated bus shelters this winter as the city begins to roll out some of the transit improvements announced 20 months ago.
In February 2006, the city unveiled a six-year, $142-million plan to upgrade Winnipeg Transit, promising to buy 164 new buses, build new dedicated bus lanes and improve hundreds of bus stops with the likes of information kiosks, better shelters and, in some cases, electronic arrival-time signs.
On Friday, transit director Dave Wardrop said approximately $7 million worth of those improvements can already be seen on Winnipeg streets.
The city has installed transit priority signals on Osborne Street and Pembina Highway, upgraded stops at busy downtown locations, major shopping malls and the University of Manitoba and put up 104 new shelters, including 37 heated structures.
"We're on time and on budget. We're very pleased with the results and we think Winnipeggers are pleased with the results," said Wardrop, who predicts 2007 year-end statistics will show an increase in transit ridership of about one per cent over 2006, when there were 40.2 million rides.
Most components of the $142-million upgrade remain to be seen, however. They include 20 new diesel-electric hybrid "bendy buses," electronic fare collection boxes on buses and airport-style electronic arrival-time signs.
Wardrop said the electronic signs will begin appearing by 2009, but the city won't order its articulated "bendy buses" until a hybrid prototype undergoes winter testing.
"We have extreme winters and we want to make sure these articulated buses will get around properly and quickly in our harsh winters," Mayor Sam Katz said, noting the prototype is due to arrive before the end of the year.
"We have one coming, and if that one works, we'll get the balance of them."
The transit makeover is made possible by $44 million in federal funds, including a sizable chunk of gas-tax revenue, and $23 million from the province.
Bus rapid transit is not part of the plan, beyond $4.7 million set aside to design future bus corridors along Pembina Highway and through St. Boniface to Transcona.
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, who chaired the city's rapid-transit upgrades, said he believes more riders will benefit from the broad improvements than would have been served by a single bus corridor along Pembina Highway.
A plan under former mayor Glen Murray's administration to build such a corridor was cancelled by Katz in 2004.
Winnipeg Transit is also preparing to charge more for riders who do not hold monthly bus passes. Pending a council vote on Wednesday, adult cash fares will increase from a toonie to $2.25 on Jan. 1, and the cost of an adult bus ticket will rise from $1.85 to $1.95.
Winnipeg Transit maintains the increase will encourage more regular ridership, but anti-poverty organizations say the fare hike will hurt people on fixed incomes.
A better bus ride
WHAT'S BEEN DONE
Conventional buses: The city has bought 24 new buses and is supposed to buy 120 more over the next four years.
Bus stop upgrades: 104 shelters, including 37 new heated structures, were built this year, along with 61 information kiosks, 72 illuminated signs and 100 new benches. At least 56 more stops will be upgraded in 2008 and 2009.
Dedicated bus lanes, queue-jumping lanes and transit priority signals: Lane improvements designed to speed up bus rides have begun on Pembina Highway, St. Mary's Road and St. Anne's Road and will continue through 2009.
YET TO COME
Diesel-electric hybrid "bendy buses": If a prototype articulated bus survives the winter, the city will order 20 more in 2008.
Electronic fare-collection boxes: Should be on buses beginning in 2009.
Airport-style electronic displays: GPS-enabled "real time" arrival-time information should appear at major stops by 2010.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca