Winnipeg City Transit/Rapid Transit

[Pinus]

140 posts over the 10,000 post limit.

Perhaps it's time to start a new sticky thread?

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Pinus

140 posts over the 10,000 post limit.

Perhaps it's time to start a new sticky thread?

No need this thread works just fine.

[LilZebra]

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1718491


Portage Pl. bus shelters being torn down. New one to be built this Fall.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

Portage Pl. bus shelters being torn down. New one to be built this Fall.

I am probably the only one who wishes they wouldn't tear down the Murder Shed(tm).

In the winter I would use this shelter at least a couple times a week.

I know it was unsafe, but to be honest, I think replacing it with standard shelters will mean it'll be both unsafe *and* cold.

Plus, given the usual pace of City of Winnipeg construction projects, "to be built this fall" probably means "there will be no shelter at all for the better part of the winter".

[cllew]

Winnipeg Transit has added a public report based on its information regarding full buses passing stops with waiting passengers

https://winnipegtransit.com/en/open-data/pass-ups/

also a link to on time performance of all routes

https://winnipegtransit.com/en/open-...e-performance/

[LilZebra]

^^^

Winnipeg Transit Pass Ups 2012-18

Trend: It's gettin' worse...

[buzzg]

Saw a bus driving on Friday that had new LED route info signage on the front. The info was in white and had much smaller/finer LEDS. I'd bet that they're multicolour LEDs and this is what we'll start to see roll out so WT can properly identify BLUE busses, and future RT lines.

It looked like the one below, which often can show colour as well:

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

^^^

Winnipeg Transit Pass Ups 2012-18

Trend: It's gettin' worse...

It looks like the vast majority happen in the fall, probably when students go back to school and then another mini spike in spring. I would bet this is because WT doesn't sync the changing of their bus schedule with the start and end of school and can't handle the volumes.

[michelleb]

I know second-hand that Winnipeg Transit didn't add any buses to route 19 when an additional ~1000 new students were accepted to RRC last year. They have never supplied enough buses on that route during the school year to handle the volumes.

[StNorberter]

Here's another issue - they don't sync the feeder buses when they change main routes.

When a 162/170 schedule change was done last year, the 91 driver was on holidays, and nobody else noticed that the change on the 162/170 meant the scheduled transfer interval was way off, so instead of 2 min transfer time, it was now closer to 30. So people would get off the 162, the 91 would come down Pembina and turn onto Killarney 5 min later and people would just think it was late. But the bus goes behind Sobey's to turn around and come back and pick people up. But it never came back. Poor driver had people screaming at him the 1st week for sitting behind sobeys while they were waiting for him in front of 7-11,even though that's what his schedule required him to do.

[buzzg]

They also seem to look at routes in isolation, and not at an area holistically. For example:

The 14 and 55 are the only two regular routes that run on St. Mary's from downtown to St. Anne's. During the day they run quite frequently, but not nearly as much outside. However, what sucks is that the scheduled stops for both routes on this portion are usually within a minute of each other. So you could wait 25 minutes for a bus and then the 14 and 55 both show up at the same time. They should stagger the schedules so that there's at least one bus going to/from downtown every 10 minutes off peak, for people in St. B, Norwood, Old St. Vital, etc.

Just staggering those two routes would make such a big impact on frequency for a lot of people, and not change really anything for people living south of St. Anne's.

[cllew]

From what I saw in today's free Press article on buss service there are 4 full time time schedulers. I wonder how many they would need to make a complete rewrite of the system to do it in a coordinated "Big Bang" change over.

It would be interesting to find out if WT is using a commercial off the shelf scheduling creation system or if the WT one was written in house?

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^^ Seems like you all should coordinate and compile an email, sending it out to multiple sources associated withe transit and City Hall, with these suggestions.

[LilZebra]

^^^

We already have such in the group Functional Transit Winnipeg.

There's a member's meeting tomorrow at the cafeteria inside Centennial Hall 7 - 9 pm.

FTW has been working towards lots of goals, such as:

* reinstating the 50/50 Provincial funding
* advocating for frequent transit service
* holding the line on transit fare increases


http://functionaltransit.com/

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Saw a bus driving on Friday that had new LED route info signage on the front. The info was in white and had much smaller/finer LEDS. I'd bet that they're multicolour LEDs and this is what we'll start to see roll out so WT can properly identify BLUE busses, and future RT lines.

I've seen that bus too, although the LEDs didn't look any finer than usual to me. However, the new articulated buses that will operate the RT have started to arrive, and they just have the standard amber signs (photo).

[Biff]

I didn't realize Winnipeg had actually bought any new articulated buses. I though we were going to continue along with the old Ottawa Transpo bendy buses.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by Biff

I didn't realize Winnipeg had actually bought any new articulated buses. I though we were going to continue along with the old Ottawa Transpo bendy buses.

Well, those are not going to last forever. They ordered 28 new ones. Apparently articulated buses will make up a significant proportion of bus orders going forward. It's a cheaper way to add capacity than actually running more service...

[esquire]

Originally Posted by GarryEllice

Well, those are not going to last forever. They ordered 28 new ones. Apparently articulated buses will make up a significant proportion of bus orders going forward. It's a cheaper way to add capacity than actually running more service...

It makes sense considering that capacity is an issue on many routes, and this is a way to add more without necessarily having to take on the cost of more drivers.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by esquire

It makes sense considering that capacity is an issue on many routes, and this is a way to add more without necessarily having to take on the cost of more drivers.

Of course, if they can't afford to run more service, this is the next best thing. But on a route like the 60, it would be far more optimal to have a regular bus every 10 minutes rather than an articulated bus every 20+ minutes as they're currently doing. Articulated buses should be deployed to increase the capacity of routes that are already running at a high frequency, not as a substitute for improved frequencies. But yeah, if this is all we can manage, I'll take it.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by GarryEllice

Of course, if they can't afford to run more service, this is the next best thing. But on a route like the 60, it would be far more optimal to have a regular bus every 10 minutes rather than an articulated bus every 20+ minutes as they're currently doing. Articulated buses should be deployed to increase the capacity of routes that are already running at a high frequency, not as a substitute for improved frequencies. But yeah, if this is all we can manage, I'll take it.

I'm sure that WT could manage more but our route network is stretched far too thinly to be effective. We need to stop pretending it's possible to serve every neighbourhood equally, especially some of these farther flung suburbs.