Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzg
Unfortunately Winnipeg Transit didn't discover the advent of the internet until 2017.
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You guys act like Transit is stuffed with a bunch of tech-illiterate boomers from Whyte Ridge that have never taken the bus once in their life but are still responsible for planning the system. I guarantee that Winnipeg Transit has a ton of progressive thinkers that would have no problem finding solutions to may of our transit problems if they were given the money.
Our transit system has been given a shoe-string budget that is significantly less on a per-capita basis compared to other Canadian cities to try and accomplish a monumental task: convince people in a cold, prairie climate where parking and insurance is abundant and cheap, and commutes by car are generally short, to abandon their cars.
I've said this time and time again: in a city where car ownership and downtown parking is inexpensive, and where commute times via the car to core employment areas are still well below one hour, you are going to have to do some pretty special stuff to woo people away from their convenient cars, and the current system fails in almost every regard in doing so.
The end result is that we are stuck with a bargain-bin (common Winnipeg theme) Transit system that only attracts those who really cannot afford to drive, gets the perception of being dirty and unsafe, yet still tries to be all things to all men by having far-flung routes to suburbs and areas of low-density, resulting in longer ride times further compounding the "I'll never give up my car!" attitude held by many.
If you want a good transit system that encourages the typical commuter to adopt it, you need consistent money, and a lot of it.
To think that Transit's woes are solely the responsibility of a "lack of innovation and foresight" in the Transit department really glosses over a whole slew of much deeper issues. I bet if you doubled Transit's funding over night, the smart folks over in Transit would know exactly what to do to make service better. But of course, that will never happen in this City.