Winnipeg City Transit/Rapid Transit

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by drew

^ but does that highlight anything? You figure that transit safety officers were getting hired to sit and read a paper all day, talk about the weather with the drivers?

Good grief people. Unhinged, sometimes violent people on the bus. Water is wet. Sky is blue.

This is the transit thread. I posted an article related to transit. Take it up with the editors.

[drew]

Originally Posted by Luisito

This is the transit thread. I posted an article related to transit. Take it up with the editors.

Exactly, YOU posted it.

Careful - there may be a chunk of sky about to fall on your head.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by drew

Exactly, YOU posted it.

Careful - there may be a chunk of sky about to fall on your head.

Yes and YOU are crying bout it, being defensive and are trying to pick a fight. I think something hard already fell on your head.

[Biff]

Maybe it was a Cantilever...Drew hates Cantilevers.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by drew

^ but does that highlight anything? You figure that transit safety officers were getting hired to sit and read a paper all day, talk about the weather with the drivers?

Good grief people. Unhinged, sometimes violent people on the bus. Water is wet. Sky is blue.

Exactly, it's part of the job description. It also happens to cops, prison guards, etc. Why would we have hired them in the first place if not to deal with incidents exactly like this?

What gets me is, a few posters here keep claiming no one else believes that crime is bad. Then they post articles like this where they are apparently suprised that these things happened lol. I could have told you a month ago that things like this were bound to occur once the transit officers started, because this is the whole reason they exist in the first place. But I'm also apparenty in denial that crime exists in Wpg

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Biff

Maybe it was a Cantilever...Drew hates Cantilevers.

totally.

column boi.

[drew]

Originally Posted by trueviking

totally.

column boi.

Dont even get me started about cantilevers!

[WinCitySparky]

I mean 100 incidents dealt with in the first week, that’s great news. It’s already creating a deterrent.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Atrial78

Winnipeg definitely has a problem, but it's not unique to just Winnipeg. I lived for years in Vancouver and violent crime is a problem there, despite it being a wealthier city. The city and transit there do feel safer overall given the density of the city and higher ridership. Winnipeg unfortunately does suffer from a lot of poverty, which many are working to improve. As a millennial, I feel that we need both strong support services, but also need to be tougher on crime and not allow lawlessness to perpetuate.

I have to disagree with you on a few points. Vancouver has higher housing costs and slightly higher wages to compensate, but has a higher poverty rate, in fact the highest in Canada. It also has a far larger homeless population and related opioid crisis, in part because of the winter climate. Nonetheless it does have a lower overall crime rate.

The urban crime patterns are very different. Crime in Winnipeg is heavily concentrate in the inner city and immediately adjacent parts of the North and West Ends, in Vancouver it is spread out and greatly affects some suburban areas, such as parts of New West, Surrey and even Langley. I agree that downtown Vancouver definitely feels safer as there are usually so many more people around. I can't agree that the entire city feels safer.

Crime is an unsolvable problem, and always has been. I agree that bail must be less automatic, even for offences considered minor, like shoplifting. If you have a record as long as your forearm and are back before a judge, bail should be denied on public safety grounds. Police are well aware that there are a relatively small number of people that commit most of the crime in this city, and they are known to them, but they are released and engaging in criminal activity almost immediately afterwards. As for transit, I guess I've been lucky, but haven't seen anything more than an argument about fare evasion on a bus here. At Metrotown Station I witnessed an armed standoff. As for support services, many don't want to use them. We already have a multi-billion dollar social services industry. Compulsory treatment may give positive results, but you know yourself that wouldn't fly in this country.

[BlackDog204]

I absolutely love the fact that when I try to refill my transit card online, it takes up to 48 hours for the funds to be put on to my card, defeating the purpose of bothering to pay online in the first place.

It's amazing that I have to go to 7-11 and buy time in 2024, so i will not be embarrassed when i step on to pay the fare on the bus.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

I absolutely love the fact that when I try to refill my transit card online, it takes up to 48 hours for the funds to be put on to my card, defeating the purpose of bothering to pay online in the first place.

It's amazing that I have to go to 7-11 and buy time in 2024, so i will not be embarrassed when i step on to pay the fare on the bus.

"Browaty says the new technology will allow for instant recharging of fare cards.

“Users will have to get a new card, but the new cards will be instantaneously loading, so if you are on your smartphone or on your computer at home, you’ll be able to add money to your card and it will be on there instantly,” he said.

“No more of this waiting 24, 48 hours and hoping it loads.”

He adds there’s also a possibility of riders being able to pay at the fare box directly with their debit or credit cards."

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/no-more-...ards-1.6794238

[lbnevs]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

"Browaty says the new technology will allow for instant recharging of fare cards.

“Users will have to get a new card, but the new cards will be instantaneously loading, so if you are on your smartphone or on your computer at home, you’ll be able to add money to your card and it will be on there instantly,” he said.

“No more of this waiting 24, 48 hours and hoping it loads.”

He adds there’s also a possibility of riders being able to pay at the fare box directly with their debit or credit cards."

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/no-more-...ards-1.6794238

Just got back from Ottawa. Paid for my bus (BRT) from the airport by tapping my phone on the reader. They accepted Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay or Apple Pay. You could also pay with cash, a bus pass, Presto, or other means. A very sensible system. No fear that I was going to hear the angry bzz-bzz-bzz indicating that my card hadn't yet loaded.

[bomberjet]

With the current system. The fares loaded online are not recognized by the fare box, until said fare box returns to the transit garage and updates it's system with a new list of paid fares. Then when you scan your card at the fare box, it will upload the fare to your card.

When you pay at the kiosk, they put your card on the reader and it updates instantly.

I'm hoping the 'new system' is not a full on replacement of the fare boxes. Seems pricey for boxes which are fairly new.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

Just got back from Ottawa. Paid for my bus (BRT) from the airport by tapping my phone on the reader. They accepted Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay or Apple Pay. You could also pay with cash, a bus pass, Presto, or other means. A very sensible system. No fear that I was going to hear the angry bzz-bzz-bzz indicating that my card hadn't yet loaded.

The great thing about the Presto card is that it's linked to multiple systems in Ontario (currently 11, with possible expansion to 7 additional systems in the works). Have a Presto card which was originally purchased through Mississauga Transit. Used it with Mi-way (Mississauga), TTC, GO Transit and OC Transpo in Ottawa. Now, Ontario has introduced a One Fare Transfer with the Presto card. When a rider uses their Presto card to transfer between transit agencies, they will be charged only one fare: either their first local fare or their GO Transit fare. As well in Ottawa, the Presto card can be used to transfer from an OC Transpo route to a STO (Quebec) route. At present, can't use Presto for a transit trip which starts with STO.

In St. John's, their electronic fare card (mCard) can be linked with AirMiles so a rider earns AirMiles for using transit.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I'm hoping the 'new system' is not a full on replacement of the fare boxes. Seems pricey for boxes which are fairly new.

The amount budgeted over 4 years is peanuts compared to what they've spent on the current fare boxes over the last 10 plus years and Peggo development, so I can't imagine there will be a full replacement.

[lbnevs]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

The amount budgeted over 4 years is peanuts compared to what they've spent on the current fare boxes over the last 10 plus years and Peggo development, so I can't imagine there will be a full replacement.

Looked a little more at the O-Payment system I used in Ottawa:

"You can use the same payment method to transfer to another train or bus without charge within the allowable 90-minute transfer window. Daily credit-card payments are capped at the cost of a day pass ($11.25), while monthly usage is capped at the cost of a monthly pass ($125.50)."

As for the budget, I see they have $6.5M earmarked for the Peggo replacement project.

Ottawa spent $7.4M for O-payment, plus some other technology (improvements to customer-facing systems, real-time information, dispatch control, etc.), and they're a much bigger city with a much larger network. It sounds like $6.5 isn't wildly unrealistic for a replacement of the fare payment infrastructure.

Crazy to think we spent $17.4M on Peggo. I know these technologies have matured and prices have come down, but it really feels like the city got fleeced.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

The amount budgeted over 4 years is peanuts compared to what they've spent on the current fare boxes over the last 10 plus years and Peggo development, so I can't imagine there will be a full replacement.

News article mentioned $6 million. So not too bad.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

Looked a little more at the O-Payment system I used in Ottawa:



As for the budget, I see they have $6.5M earmarked for the Peggo replacement project.

Ottawa spent $7.4M for O-payment, plus some other technology (improvements to customer-facing systems, real-time information, dispatch control, etc.), and they're a much bigger city with a much larger network. It sounds like $6.5 isn't wildly unrealistic for a replacement of the fare payment infrastructure.

Crazy to think we spent $17.4M on Peggo. I know these technologies have matured and prices have come down, but it really feels like the city got fleeced.

Man, something along those lines would be amazing. Payments could be so much quicker with a modern PoS system on busses. Now they need to turnstile the BRT platforms somehow and then we'll be cooking. Gotta speed up the rapid line, at least along the corridor.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

Crazy to think we spent $17.4M on Peggo. I know these technologies have matured and prices have come down, but it really feels like the city got fleeced.

Only one other city in North America uses a similar system to Winnipeg, and a lot of this was developed in house. Lots of money wasted from day 1. Tracking passenger movement was the goal, but of course they can get all of that from Google and Apple now.

[harls]

Originally Posted by drew

^ but does that highlight anything? You figure that transit safety officers were getting hired to sit and read a paper all day, talk about the weather with the drivers?

Good grief people. Unhinged, sometimes violent people on the bus. Water is wet. Sky is blue.

Need Bob Odenkirk to reprise his role in 'Nobody' and show people who's boss.

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