Fewer bus shelters leave Winnipeg Transit riders out in the cold

As the temperature drops, Transit riders are giving Winnipeg’s new system a frosty reception. CTV’s Daniel Halmarson explains.

Bus riders in Winnipeg are having a hard time warming up to the city’s primary transit more than five months after the major overhaul.

Their views on the system are getting even frostier because there are fewer bus shelters around.

“Especially the day where it gets, you know, -28 to -30 with the windchill,” Transit rider Nicolas Tugwell told CTV News while waiting at a Corydon Avenue stop on Wednesday.

Tugwell said he counts on Winnipeg Transit to get to work, run errands, and visit his family and friends.

“Normally I’m on the bus three to four hours a day, something like that,” he said. “Really depends on if we’re talking wait times. That probably adds another hour on top of that.”

Tugwell said he’s been waiting a lot more since the transit network was revamped. He said connections are unreliable, schedules are inconsistent, and he’s often waiting an extra 20 minutes for his bus to arrive.

He said some of the stops he frequents have bus shelters in place, but he said some are missing doors, and the heaters in others don’t work.

He said the city should install more bus shelters on more routes.

“I get it, they’re tired of them getting broken and stuff like that. But at the same time, they need to be there,” Tugwell said. “There are kids that wait for buses, there’s single parents that have strollers. Making them wait outside in this weather is ridiculous.”

A city spokesperson told CTV News there are 705 shelters at bus stops around Winnipeg.

However, Winnipeg Transit has relocated 190 smaller shelters and 12 medium-large shelters from cancelled stops to new routes.

“Work to move these shelters began in the spring and continued following the launch in June,” the spokesperson said in an email.

They added another 150 shelters were removed completely during the overhaul.

“We are in the process of assessing the conditions of the frames of those 150 shelters, with the goal of getting any shelter in good enough condition relocated to an in-service bus stop as soon as possible.”

Janice Lukes, the chair of the public works committee, said the city is still tweaking bus routes, adjusting schedules, and gathering feedback from riders. She assured riders that bus shelters will be installed in ideal locations in the coming months.

“This is a network in transition,” Lukes told CTV News. “We don’t want to invest unnecessarily in locations until we’ve had a good season of the new route usage.”

The city spokesperson said several factors are in play when they place shelters at specific stops including ridership numbers, exposure to the elements, and if a lot of riders transfer at the stop.