Massive Winnipeg Transit network overhaul takes effect Sunday

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Winnipeg Transit volition acquisition what it says is the astir important single-day translation successful its past connected Sunday, erstwhile it launches a caller autobus web that changes conscionable astir each way successful the city.

"Pretty overmuch thing is going to stay the aforesaid aft Sunday," said Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit's manager of work development.

The caller web replaces Winnipeg's existing "hub-and-spoke" system — with buses often pursuing meandering routes betwixt outlying neighbourhoods and the downtown — with a much grid-like "spine-and-feeder" model, featuring high-frequency routes on large roads, connected to smaller routes moving done residential areas.

With straighter routes, less stops and routes that debar travelling done congested downtown traffic, Winnipeg Transit officials accidental the caller web volition beryllium much reliable and efficient.

"The web we person close present was truly designed for the metropolis that we had successful the '50s oregon possibly the '60s, wherever everybody was trying to get into downtown successful the greeting to spell to work, and retired of downtown successful the afternoon. But the city's truly changed and everybody's question patterns person changed," Radstrom told CBC.

The caller web reflects modern question needs similar buying and more cross-town trips, helium said.

WATCH | A Winnipeg Transit video outlines the caller system:

The web volition person 4 types of transit lines: accelerated transit, predominant express, predominant and direct.

Wait times betwixt buses connected the caller "frequent" and "frequent express" lines are expected to beryllium 15 minutes oregon little during highest times, Transit says.

However, the web relies connected passengers transferring buses much often and walking longer distances to get to stops.

Winnipeg Transit posted the caller schedules online May 1, adding a diagnostic to its website that allows riders to program their trips utilizing the caller routes.

Radstrom encourages users to effort antithetic tools, similar Navigo, the Winnipeg Transit app, and Google Maps to program their routes.

Fewer autobus stops

As portion of its redesign, transit removed astir 1,700 of the 5,200 stops successful the city and installed astir 460 caller ones, for a full of astir 4,000 autobus stops successful the caller system.

While that whitethorn mean longer walks for immoderate radical to get to their stops, Radstrom says the caller web volition tally much efficiently and reliably.

"Having each those other stops truly slows things down," helium said.

To assistance radical navigate the caller system, Winnipeg Transit has sent "travel trainers," recognizable by their blue vests, to stops astir the city. They volition beryllium retired again adjacent week on large routes. 

Bus riders successful southwest neighbourhoods similar Waverley West volition already beryllium acquainted with the caller model. Buses successful that country person followed the spine-and-feeder strategy since the southwest accelerated transit corridor was completed successful 2020.

Waverley West councillor and nationalist works committee seat Janice Lukes said she's assured riders volition spot improvements.

"In the large picture, it's going to beryllium great, for sure," she said. 

But she acknowledged "there'll beryllium immoderate hiccups and immoderate bumps, and there'll beryllium things that volition request adjustments."

"People request to study their contented to 311 and it volition beryllium addressed," said Lukes.

The caput of the national that represents Winnipeg Transit operators encouraged riders to beryllium patient, arsenic the drivers are besides learning the caller routes.

"We're some excited for this to yet beryllium rolled retired and a small tense [about] the impact," said Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505.

Kyle Owens, president of the advocacy radical Functional Transit Winnipeg, said the caller network's frequent work makes it a "game-changer," but said it could instrumentality weeks oregon months for riders to set and statesman to recognize its benefits.

"It takes clip to rebuild a caller narration with that caller system," said Owens, pointing retired that galore Winnipeggers person been frustrated by unreliable transit work successful the past.

Radstrom says the metropolis considered a phased attack to the changes, but decided it was not imaginable owed to however interconnected the web is.

"In the end, it was each oregon nothing," helium said.