Winnipeg Transit and area

[tctf101]

Looks like there’s now run cards for fill buses, spotted 16-51 on the 18 today as well as 50-9/11-51 on the 11 

[DavidW]

I am finding the buses I'm riding are too busy to maintain any semblance of social distancing. It's not clear to me what Winnipeg Transit is waiting for to restore service to (summer) weekday levels. If they're waiting for 100% recovery of ridership they're waiting waaay too long. It would be interesting to know how far ridership fell from normal, and where we are on the ridership recovery curve.

If social distancing translates to something like 50% of full loading, then 50% of pre-pandemic loading would suggest a full service schedule is needed. 

As for the public relations message alternating with route and destination text on the signs... I've lost my tolerance for the extra delay in finding out just what bus I'm looking at. It's a great feature that Winnipeg Transit can quickly add or subtract such messages but it is a nuisance for regular riders.

 

 

... It's very hypocritical of Winnipeg Transit to preach "Practice Social Distancing" ad nauseam while simultaneously actively preventing riders from practicing social distancing with inadequate capacity...

[tctf101]

34 minutes ago, DavidW said:

I am finding the buses I'm riding are too busy to maintain any semblance of social distancing. It's not clear to me what Winnipeg Transit is waiting for to restore service to (summer) weekday levels. If they're waiting for 100% recovery of ridership they're waiting waaay too long. It would be interesting to know how far ridership fell from normal, and where we are on the ridership recovery curve.

If social distancing translates to something like 50% of full loading, then 50% of pre-pandemic loading would suggest a full service schedule is needed. 

As for the public relations message alternating with route and destination text on the signs... I've lost my tolerance for the extra delay in finding out just what bus I'm looking at. It's a great feature that Winnipeg Transit can quickly add or subtract such messages but it is a nuisance for regular riders.

 

 

... It's very hypocritical of Winnipeg Transit to preach "Practice Social Distancing" ad nauseam while simultaneously actively preventing riders from practicing social distancing with inadequate capacity...

Today I saw 380 on the blue full almost to the front door and the driver didn’t even pass up or call for a standby bus 

From what I’ve been reading ATU is trying to get transit to bring back regular service but a person who works for the city’s emergency department said that ridership is still at the point it was when ridership fell from normal, I do want to know how they determined that as from what I’ve been seeing is not true at all 

Transit could’ve done a phased approach to bring service back to normal like certain routes that tend to get packed go back to regular schedule and the routes that doesn’t need full service back stays the way it is, also transit could’ve done a better job at finding ridership like actually surveying riders and get their opinion 

[LilZebra]

41 minutes ago, Thewinnipegtransitfanhuang said:

 transit could’ve done a better job at finding ridership like actually surveying riders and get their opinion 

Isn't that what the Transit Master Plan is for?

And I have to agree with DavidW here. For anyone with low-vision issues, the social distancing PSAs on the electronic destination signs gives riders less time to read the route number and destination on the bus. Miss the sign and you'll miss the bus, with possibly a 30 min. or more wait for the next one.

[SirAndrew710]

1 hour ago, DavidW said:

I am finding the buses I'm riding are too busy to maintain any semblance of social distancing. It's not clear to me what Winnipeg Transit is waiting for to restore service to (summer) weekday levels. If they're waiting for 100% recovery of ridership they're waiting waaay too long. It would be interesting to know how far ridership fell from normal, and where we are on the ridership recovery curve.

Last I saw, they were still claiming that ridership is down 70%, though a quick look at WT’s Twitter feed shows that not to be the case, with ridership seeming as high as ever on routes such as 11, 18, 21 and 47 and complaints piling up as a result. I might have to start taking the bus again in the fall when classes resume, and I’ve already decided that I’ll walk the extra few minutes to Ness to take the 24 if ever I do need to take the bus downtown due to inadequate Portage service. When people tweet at them about the inadequate service, they reply the same way (“we’re monitoring ridership levels and will increase the number of buses in service as needed”), but if they’re monitoring ridership like they say they are, then why haven’t the aforementioned routes and others seen increases in service?

[trebor204]

I would like to see what the new fall service levels will be like.

With the UofM having most of the classes online there will be no need to run all the extra buses that normally run while classes are in session.

 

[tctf101]

10 minutes ago, LilZebra said:

Isn't that what the Transit Master Plan is for?

I’m saying for right now like does everyone think it’s a good time to bring back regular service 

[SirAndrew710]

2 minutes ago, Thewinnipegtransitfanhuang said:

I’m saying for right now like does everyone think it’s a good time to bring back regular service 

I think it’s an overdue move with social distancing becoming near-impossible and almost everything having been reopened.

[tctf101]

Also what I think transit means by “increase the number of buses as needed” is to send out fills on discretion of the driver, if a driver didn’t bother to call in a full bus then there might not be a increased number of buses 

[DavidW]

I'm worried there is a long lag between when ridership increases and when numbers are compiled and reported. It may be as bad as waiting to the end of the month before doing the statistical analysis.

This, combined with what is likely an absurd criteria for restoring service (probably with no consideration for social distancing), and Winnipeg Transit's laser focus on the balance sheet (completely ignoring any consideration of customer service) means it'll take a public revolt and a lot of screaming and yelling at them to get service restored...

That they're getting away with poor service (and layoffs) probably puts smiles on administrators' faces.

 

[tctf101]

Transit could’ve started preparing a plan for going back to regular service as soon as the province released its plan for reopening and yet they cut service back on the same day phase one of the reopening approaches came into effect, perhaps to start things such as monitoring ridership more closely and take any complaints seriously, as well as a phased approach as I’ve mentioned like problematic routes get their service back while some routes remain in the reduced service. 
I also question what transit is going to do with all the laid off drivers they’ve recalled back, if it’s not for providing more service and they will only sit at the lounge waiting for their work you might as well keep them laid off rather then recalling them back with no clear intention, they also need to pay whoever they’ve laid off which is also draining their budget 

[SirAndrew710]

12 minutes ago, Thewinnipegtransitfanhuang said:

Transit could’ve started preparing a plan for going back to regular service as soon as the province released its plan for reopening and yet they cut service back on the same day phase one of the reopening approaches came into effect, perhaps to start things such as monitoring ridership more closely and take any complaints seriously, as well as a phased approach as I’ve mentioned like problematic routes get their service back while some routes remain in the reduced service. 

The only issue I see with that is that regular service on some routes - 21 especially - is insufficient for social distancing purposes. Usually, most of the seats are full by the time the inbound ones reach Whytewold, even, and taking it outbound, when you’re usually standing if you’re boarding anywhere west of Edmonton, you would not be able to socially distance. As @DavidW mentioned earlier, WT has long looked for excuses to cut costs, and this is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. I’m kinda worried to see what post-pandemic service will look like.

[MMP15]

https://www.metrotransit.org/a-data-driven-approach-to-social-distancing-1

An interesting article out of Minneapolis. Addresses tweaking capacity to routes that actually need it. It would be nice if Winnipeg was as transparent with their data as MN is.

[Wpgtransit11-25]

2 hours ago, Thewinnipegtransitfanhuang said:

Transit could’ve started preparing a plan for going back to regular service as soon as the province released its plan for reopening and yet they cut service back on the same day phase one of the reopening approaches came into effect, perhaps to start things such as monitoring ridership more closely and take any complaints seriously, as well as a phased approach as I’ve mentioned like problematic routes get their service back while some routes remain in the reduced service. 
I also question what transit is going to do with all the laid off drivers they’ve recalled back, if it’s not for providing more service and they will only sit at the lounge waiting for their work you might as well keep them laid off rather then recalling them back with no clear intention, they also need to pay whoever they’ve laid off which is also draining their budget 

If they were laid off u would be collecting EI so they wouldn’t be payed by the city for time of being laid off only from time they are back at work 

[ConnorsCompShow]

It's straight up garbage that they aren't shifting some of the XD60s around. Or rather, that they didn't while they still could've, because yes, some BLUEs are pretty problematic now. Mostly the St. Norbert runs from what I've seen, UofMs aren't as terrible. They can respond "we're monitoring ridership levels and sending extra buses as needed" to people's images of overcrowding all they want, but these extra buses are going straight into /dev/null/ for all I know since they don't even show up on the online timetables, and because they don't show on the timetables, they sure as hell aren't going to show up on the electronic displays at the actual stops. What good is a bonus run if you don't even know there's a bonus run to begin with? And the times that I think I've seen a bonus run of a 47 Regent for example, it's literally right behind another 47 Regent at Harkness waiting to get out. 

It's pretty infuriating to see "Mayor Selfie" Bowman show up for a photo op with some Uber suit for what was effectively a soft paper launch turned hard because he just had to drag the media out, only for him to then say that this Jason Shaw character knows all when it comes to ramping service back up, and it's very clear that guy hasn't even so much as looked at any buses lately. Really comforting to know in case SHTF with something like a tornado.

The province could be making absolute bank right now with $2500 fines all over the place if they actually bothered to give municipalities a slapping and held them to the same standards as every other business, but no. Maybe then Shaw would actually be bothered to give a damn.

Some ideas for a partial ramp:

- XD60 a 11, 21, 22, 47, 66 run every now and again.

- Restore route 77 to most of its weekday service, at least to 8 PM (6 PM cutoffs at Garden City are pretty harsh on weekdays).

- Start to revert BLUE to more and more of its original weekday service

- Possibly discontinue the all-stops bit of expresses to better balance loads between local service and current "express" service

On 7/7/2020 at 3:22 PM, SirAndrew710 said:

Saw an 18 this morning that wasn’t showing the “Social Distancing” P/R, only “18 CORYDON… ASSINIBOINE PARK.” I’m guessing that drivers has come to the realization that we all have by now, that being that social distancing on mainline routes is impossible?

Some drivers went a little mutiny a bit before that. Others have taken to switching it up with the elusive "OPERATING SATURDAY SERVICE" instead.

[ConnorsCompShow]

Case in point this morning: 848 and 182 both tag teaming as 47 from Regent to U of M. BusTXT claims that 182 isn't on the road at all.

[trebor204]

Saw a BLUE bus with a 40-2 Run Card this afternoon, along with another BLUE coming from the UofM leg

[LilZebra]

20 hours ago, DavidW said:

I'm worried there is a long lag between when ridership increases and when numbers are compiled and reported. It may be as bad as waiting to the end of the month before doing the statistical analysis.

This, combined with what is likely an absurd criteria for restoring service (probably with no consideration for social distancing), and Winnipeg Transit's laser focus on the balance sheet (completely ignoring any consideration of customer service) means it'll take a public revolt and a lot of screaming and yelling at them to get service restored...

That they're getting away with poor service (and layoffs) probably puts smiles on administrators' faces.

Functional Transit Winnipeg's current leader, Derek Koop,, has been either silent on this or just can't get the news coverage that its prior laader (Joe Kornelson) had. Just sayin.

[SirAndrew710]

17 hours ago, ConnorsCompShow said:

Some drivers went a little mutiny a bit before that. Others have taken to switching it up with the elusive "OPERATING SATURDAY SERVICE" instead.

I’ve never seen that one, though since that initial post, I’ve seen buses on 21, 66, 79 and 98 without any P/R.

9 hours ago, ConnorsCompShow said:

Case in point this morning: 848 and 182 both tag teaming as 47 from Regent to U of M. BusTXT claims that 182 isn't on the road at all.

The 18 that wasn’t showing the social distancing P/R was the second of two that were tag-teaming, and there have been a couple occasions where I’ve seen two 21s back to back as well. I also saw 40-5, signed NIS, right behind a 21 this morning.

[Wpgtransit11-25]

9 hours ago, trebor204 said:

Saw a BLUE bus with a 40-2 Run Card this afternoon, along with another BLUE coming from the UofM leg

Fill bus so if the bus is doing fill it won’t show anything on bus text 

[LilZebra]

I  was on the 23 on Tuesday going from Mood to home. The bus oprator says there is only one run of the 23 and he is it.

[SirAndrew710]

8 hours ago, LilZebra said:

The bus oprator says there is only one run of the 23 and he is it.

Which I’m guessing is a legacy of Saturday service on the pre-April 2020 incarnation of Route 29, where three buses worked both branches (as the current version of the 29 still has two buses).

[vivablue5215]

On 7/9/2020 at 4:41 PM, SirAndrew710 said:

The 18 that wasn’t showing the social distancing P/R was the second of two that were tag-teaming, and there have been a couple occasions where I’ve seen two 21s back to back as well. I also saw 40-5, signed NIS, right behind a 21 this morning.

I saw at least three 18 runs that were tag teaming on Friday around 2:30pm. One of them was a 28-xx and another was a 25-xx. 

[wt_enthusiast_photos]

11 hours ago, vivablue5215 said:

I saw at least three 18 runs that were tag teaming on Friday around 2:30pm. One of them was a 28-xx and another was a 25-xx. 

Those were fill buses

[SirAndrew710]

How much longer can they go about with the current system of “fill runs” and tag-teaming before it makes more sense to go back to regular service? ‘Cause I bet that there are some runs on some routes (18 and 21 come to mind right away) that consistently need backup called in. Even on Sundays, where service is already poor, Route 11 seems to be suffering from the absence of Shoppers’ Specials, as I saw an 11 Kildonan filled to standing room only at Maryland yesterday and some of the 11 Portages I saw west of Polo looked pretty full as well (though Shoppers’ Specials wouldn’t help with that). Over the last week, the only routes I’ve seen buses with low passenger loads on are 2, 10, 66, 79, 82 and 98, and those routes don’t see high ridership anyway (note that I saw these 66s in Charleswood, Tuxedo and approaching Unicity, and passenger loads on that route generally tail off west of Kenaston).