Winnipeg bus riders 'trying to be open-minded' about new transit network

Winnipeggers now have a new bus network, which will mean learning new routes, stops and bus numbers. 

On Sunday, Winnipeg Transit launched its new primary transit network, which it calls the most significant single-day transformation in its history 

It replaces the city's decades-old "hub-and-spoke" model, where buses meandered through outlying neighbourhoods before heading downtown. In the new "spine-and-feeder" system, buses follow a more grid-like pattern, with straighter routes along major arteries, and smaller feeder routes connecting to residential areas.

While the changes only took effect on Sunday, the plan has been in the works for years. Winnipeg Transit posted the new schedules online weeks ago, adding a feature to its website that allowed riders to plan their trips using the new routes, and has been changing signage to prepare riders.

Transit users CBC spoke with last week, before the new routes began operating, raised concerns — but some also said they were willing to give the changes a chance.

Katherine Morgan, a retiree living in south St. Vital, says she's had a passion for public transportation ever since working on a school project about it in Grade 12, and uses the bus to get just about everywhere.

She expects the new bus network to come with both benefits and drawbacks for her.

"I am trying to be open-minded," she said.

The redesign has reduced the total number of stops in Transit's network, removing about 1,700 of the 5,200 stops in the city and installing about 460 new ones, for a total of about 4,000 bus stops.

"It's quite a few stops that [they're] taking. It seems to be all the stops that I use," Morgan said.

However, she often rides the bus to Princess Auto Stadium, where she volunteers, and said that ride will be shorter thanks to several removed stops.

But she says her ride home, which is often after 9 p.m., will involve a 15-minute walk from the nearest stop, whereas before, she could get off at a stop right in front of her home.

"That's pretty frustrating. I don't want to be walking home 15 minutes in the dark, trying not to trip."

Jarod Strelnikow says he rode the bus every day for almost 20 years, but bought a truck after learning the bus he rode home to The Maples would stop running before the end of his evening shift as a health-care aide.