Winnipeg | Transit | Rapid Transit

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by bodaggin

Before they build another mile of dedicated BRT track they can start combining their half-city lines into full cross-town lines.

There's 87 bus routes in Winnipeg. Why? I'm a neanderthal motorist, I can't comprehend 87 routes.

For example: The Portage 22 goes from Unicity to Downtown and stops there. The Transcona 46 goes from Downtown to Transcona. Combine these. Make 1 cross city route from Unicity to Transcona. Call it whatever you want. The "East-Wester" whatever. Keep the transfer stations in the middle. Now it's 1 main line for neanderthal me to understand, and no transfers for people to go cross-city.

I could only find 1 cross-town ish line and that's the 36 from UofM to McPhillips.

They could probably combine 10 lines like these into 5 and not a single cubic foot of concrete would need to be poured.

That's the plan. Reference the TMP for the routes.

[FactaNV]

Bad news on the new transit garage, they're around $80,000,000 overbudget and the civil service is recommended deferring some element sof the design to hopefully be built later.

Report is item #2 of the linked site.

https://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/dmis/mobilemenu.asp?DocId=25064&SectionId=

Man does this City need to renegotiate its share of provincial taxes something fierce.

[bomberjet]

There goes all the glass walls, ponds and gardens and all that fancy shit they had in the renders. Which is probably fine for a garage not to have that stuff anyways.

It's actually $105 million over budget and they're trying to get that down to $80 million over and then ask the Province/Feds for the money.

With the previous approved budget at $200 million, the project came in at over $300 million.

[Winnipegger]

The cost of infrastructure has blasted through the roof since COVID, and tax revenues - especially in Winnipeg - have absolutely not kept up in any sense despite increases in wages and earnings among workers. It doesn't help that Winnipeg politicians have kicked so many infrastructure upgrades "down the road" over the years, and now the bill is coming due and we face significantly elevated costs with no significant increase in tax revenue to offset.

Winnipeggers are used to doing more with less when it comes to our public realm, so I suppose squeezing just a bit more blood from the stone (i.e., congested and outdated infrastructure with no means to upgrade) isn't going to be all that bad.

As per usual, we'll do the bare minimum to keep things functional with no fiscal foresight to actually try and improve anything or add capacity for the future - the future is in the future, so why try to plan for it now?

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

It doesn't help that Winnipeg politicians have kicked so many infrastructure upgrades "down the road" over the years, and now the bill is coming due and we face significantly elevated costs with no significant increase in tax revenue to offset.

Thanks, Mayor Katz!

[ColdRain&Snow]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

Thanks, Mayor Katz!

Yeah but think of all the homeowners who saved money during the 14-year long property tax freeze!

What really drives me crazy is that since home values increased during those 14 years, but the amount of property tax collected stay the same, the property tax mill rate actually went down for the majority of Winnipeg homeowners during that period. So the value of your asset is going up but the tax rate on your asset is going down.

I was just a kid while Sam Katz was mayor, so I never got any of the benefit (tax money saved) from the property tax freeze. Now I'm 26 and rent an apartment in Osborne Village. Much of the infrastructure in the Village is in poor condition. The roads have huge potholes, the backlanes are crumbling, the sidewalks have huge cracks, tons of boulevard trees are missing and haven't been replanted... the list goes on. Yet I always hear from older people about how much nicer the Village used to be. Rent was cheaper, the neighbourhood was cleaner, less homeless people, less crime. I kind of feel like people my age got shafted by that 14 year long property tax freeze. None of the benefit, all the consequences.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

There goes all the glass walls, ponds and gardens and all that fancy shit they had in the renders. Which is probably fine for a garage not to have that stuff anyways.

Probably just remove the bathrooms. The Brandon Ave garage main men's bathroom has 2 toilets and 9 shower stalls, women's has 1 toilet and 4 showers. There's additional bathrooms further back with 1 toilet each intended for maintenance personnel.

[WinCitySparky]

The bullshit fuel tax cut isn’t helping the funding problem

[The Jabroni]

Thanks Janice!!

Committee votes to shrink size of new Winnipeg Transit garage

[bomberjet]

From the link:

Committee votes to shrink size of new Winnipeg Transit garage

Charleswood councillor calls for new road connection to Wilkes Avenue

....Public works chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) says there was no other option because the city is already facing a shortage of infrastructure money for other major capital projects, such as the North End sewage treatment plant and the expansion of Kenaston Boulevard.

"We're in a, you know, structural deficit position, and that's not ideal," Lukes told reporters..... Why is Janice Lukes the Public Works chair. She's terrible.



Like what in the.. 'We have no money for anything. But my ward needs a new road because you know.'

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

From the link:

Committee votes to shrink size of new Winnipeg Transit garage

Charleswood councillor calls for new road connection to Wilkes Avenue

....Public works chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) says there was no other option because the city is already facing a shortage of infrastructure money for other major capital projects, such as the North End sewage treatment plant and the expansion of Kenaston Boulevard.

"We're in a, you know, structural deficit position, and that's not ideal," Lukes told reporters..... Why is Janice Lukes the Public Works chair. She's terrible.



Like what in the.. 'We have no money for anything. But my ward needs a new road because you know.'

I'm furious about this right now. Absolutely furious.

I have several choice words on the matter of this but I must refrain for obvious reasons.

[bon_vivant]

"Meanwhile, the public works committee also voted on Thursday to study the idea of building a new road connecting Ridgewood Avenue to Wilkes Avenue."
Yet they can always find the money for another study... for some road. Pathetic.

[zalf]

Does anyone have any sense of how damaging this change will be to implementing the Transit Master Plan?

[ColdRain&Snow]

Originally Posted by bon_vivant

"Meanwhile, the public works committee also voted on Thursday to study the idea of building a new road connecting Ridgewood Avenue to Wilkes Avenue."
Yet they can always find the money for another study... for some road. Pathetic.

Yeah it's infuriating. I used to live in Charleswood a few years ago. The traffic there isn't even bad.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

From the link:

Committee votes to shrink size of new Winnipeg Transit garage

Charleswood councillor calls for new road connection to Wilkes Avenue

....Public works chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) says there was no other option because the city is already facing a shortage of infrastructure money for other major capital projects, such as the North End sewage treatment plant and the expansion of Kenaston Boulevard.

"We're in a, you know, structural deficit position, and that's not ideal," Lukes told reporters..... Why is Janice Lukes the Public Works chair. She's terrible.



Like what in the.. 'We have no money for anything. But my ward needs a new road because you know.'

if the city stoped steeling money from the water utility. the utility would have money to build the stuff its doing but no councle has to take money to balance the books sigh pub needs to put a stop to this

[thebasketballgeek]

RMTransit did a video about Winnipeg and its future transit plans. He was surprisingly optimistic.

https://youtu.be/0N5vm7rh2ZY?si=kGNMsYyw_RwAErkd

[KnickKnack]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

RMTransit did a video about Winnipeg and its future transit plans. He was surprisingly optimistic.

https://youtu.be/0N5vm7rh2ZY?si=kGNMsYyw_RwAErkd

lol I just saw a notification for this on my phone, ran up to the computer to post it here... and someone beat me to it.

So many of us in Winnipeg are used to being pessimists about our own city, that it's nice to see some positive attention our transit plans from someone with a big following.

Now hopefully this plan actually gets built out. I've been waiting eagerly for the detailed design on the downtown corridors (by far the most impactful part IMO).

[pegster]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

RMTransit did a video about Winnipeg and its future transit plans. He was surprisingly optimistic.

https://youtu.be/0N5vm7rh2ZY?si=kGNMsYyw_RwAErkd

Love the optimism and pro-bus message here! We have great plans, we just need to implement them. And the changes coming next summer will, hopefully, be the next big leap in the right direction.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by pegster

Love the optimism and pro-bus message here! We have great plans, we just need to implement them. And the changes coming next summer will, hopefully, be the next big leap in the right direction.

Just watched this video and it's terrific. I wish more people who have dumped on the city's transit plans take a look at this. Great observations from someone who's obviously studied various transit systems around the world.

He mentioned the potential of electric busses. I just saw that New Flyer is going to be fully making electric busses in their Winnipeg factory. I wonder if this will help the transition in the city?

[Atrial78]

Great video and really exciting plans! I particularly liked hearing about the plans to use Union Station for buses in addition to trains. I also didn't know it was designed by the same architects as Grand Central. I do think we need to look into Via rail or Amtrak to cities in the US Midwest.

Also, although I think buses can build a strong transit network, I do think one or two rail lines would be helpful. Unfortunately, in North America there is a stigma associated with bus use, but less so with rail. Simply having a train from the airport to downtown, and downtown to U of M could pull more people, who might otherwise not be willing to use transit.