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Yeah, dispatch has been canceling a ton of runs recently, for no reason (WT has over 1,000 drivers, and they only need ~500 during rush-hour). They've even cancelled one of the Route 50 runs. That means there will be a gap of an hour-and-a-half between buses on the 50 at one point, which is absolutely ridiculous.
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31 minutes ago, Isaac Williams said:

Yeah, dispatch has been canceling a ton of runs recently, for no apparent reason. They've even cancelled one of the Route 50 runs. That means there will be a gap of an hour-and-a-half between buses on the 50 at one point, which is absolutely ridiculous.
50ULTRAFAIL.thumb.png.0e050822548bbd65dde30bdc025131ee.png

Reason being driving shortages 

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In better news, one of the D60LF's is back in service. I was on 974 which I haven't been on in over a year (last ride was in November 2021). Clearly the bus had been stored judging by the ProtectMB ad and the fare ad which had the fare for 2022 on it compared to the new fare ad for 2023.

Still it beat a 40-foot in terms of space.

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2 hours ago, Viafreak said:

In better news, one of the D60LF's is back in service. I was on 974 which I haven't been on in over a year (last ride was in November 2021). Clearly the bus had been stored judging by the ProtectMB ad and the fare ad which had the fare for 2022 on it compared to the new fare ad for 2023.

Still it beat a 40-foot in terms of space.

974 has been active since August.
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As Boxing Day 2022 approaches, I'm wondering how much the 11 will be passing up. I know that before 2020, the 11 would be packed to the gills on Boxing Day. Back then, the Sunday/Holiday schedule had 10 regular 11's, and 4 extra 11's that ran between City Hall and Polo Park. Now there's only 9 regular 11's, and 3 extra 11's, keeping in mind that the 11 is still 40-foot only. I know ridership is still lower than it used to be, but it is on the rise, and Boxing Day is arguably the biggest shopping day of the year.

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It wasn't bad on Black Friday this year at least during rush hour. Speaking of the 11, I noticed today one of my buses had automated wheelchair securement. What caught me off guard was the fact it was D40LFR 800. First one that I have seen on a bus other than the new XD40's. Couldn't tell but I think it didn't have the manual wheelchair securement. Its not marked on Winnipeg Transit as having wheelchair securement.

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23 minutes ago, Isaac Williams said:

800 is the only bus to have that securement system, aside from 440-471 of course. Speaking of, 440-471 are still rush-hour only for the most part, and still only being used on designated runs for the most part, more than a year-and-a-half after we got them.

I find it odd what runs get those buses. During the last change, the 690/691 and 694 often got those buses in the afternoon. Those routes only serve the Fort Garry Industrial Park during peak hours. The 650 and 642 would make more sense as they serve more residential. 

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6 minutes ago, Viafreak said:

I find it odd what runs get those buses. During the last change, the 690/691 and 694 often got those buses in the afternoon. Those routes only serve the Fort Garry Industrial Park during peak hours. The 650 and 642 would make more sense as they serve more residential. 

Don't forget that the 691 serves Whyte Ridge, and the 694 serves Wildwood. But if anything, those buses should be allowed to go on any run, and operate all-day, everyday. The 200's, 500's and D60LF's see more weekend action than 440-471. I know I've heard about Transit needing to train drivers on how to use the securement system, but I can't imagine that still being the case now.

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1 hour ago, ConnorsCompShow said:

Looks like some new seats are being introduced with a hard shell-like feel to them. Kinda like a classroom chair. This one on 450.

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Somehow, I don't think those will be as comfortable as the seats on the Calgaries/Ottawa's (why is Winnipeg so bad at putting in good seats?).

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1 hour ago, ConnorsCompShow said:

Looks like some new seats are being introduced with a hard shell-like feel to them. Kinda like a classroom chair. This one on 450.

95EFA3C7-C30C-4B99-A9D8-25C3189E4B87.jpeg

Reminds me of the 4One Gemini seats that Edmonton installed in one order of buses.

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They are... OK. Surprisingly comfortable and more ergonomic than some other designs out there, however they can get pretty slippery. On said order of buses, ETS has since been retrofitting the flip down seats at the front with carpet, presumably to address the aforementioned issue. For all future orders they went back to their usual carpeted seating.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Don't ask me how on earth light rail would work on Main or St. Mary's. Unless it's on-street, like a tram or something. Either way, even if a theoretical plan was devised, who's gonna pay for it? However it's nice to see them referencing something specific on the Transit Master Plan. They haven't completely forgotten about it.

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Out of all the lines, A (the current SWBRT) and B (South St Vital to Downtown) make the most sense as LRT. Line A could easily run as LRT from the U of M to Union Station then BRT to Unicity. In fact most of it is already designed for LRT. Pretty sure the tracks at Union Station are already light rail. You don't have to even travel on the St. Vital buses (14, 16, 19, 54-55, 57-59) to see that LRT would be beneficial. I find that it seems like every second bus on Portage is headed that direction and they often have XD60's/D60LF's on the express runs. Its at the point now that you rarely see the 35 or 36 have a bendy these days. I wonder if that also has an effect on the BLUE as there is often quite a few runs with D40LF's on it (the other day I got an ex-Calgary bus). I wish that Transit would stop assigning XD60's to the 60. I can't see why the 60 needs bendy buses when the BLUE is packed to the gills. Since the winter change, I have had a hard time getting a seat on the BLUE due to the above reasons.

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2 hours ago, Viafreak said:

I wish that Transit would stop assigning XD60's to the 60. I can't see why the 60 needs bendy buses when the BLUE is packed to the gills.

The 60 can get packed to the gills at times too. Not as often, yeah, but it does happen. In fact, the 60 has the 4th-highest number of weekday pass-ups since the start of September 2022.
 

2 hours ago, Viafreak said:

Its at the point now that you rarely see the 35 or 36 have a bendy these days.

The 36 gets significantly more artics than the 35, 54 and 59. A few 36's in the morning turn into BLUE's at the U of M, and therefore get an artic almost every day. Likewise, a few BLUE's become 36's in the late afternoon, and almost always get artics too. Some of the other 36's get artics too. Sidenote: I rode 115 (a 40-foot bus) on the 36 from the U of M to the Maples today. That bus was nearly full immediately. An artic, which that run can and does sometimes get, would've been good there.

 

2 hours ago, Viafreak said:

I wonder if that also has an effect on the BLUE as there is often quite a few runs with D40LF's on it

It also doesn't help that we only have 28 XD60's, and like 4 to 6 active D60LF's. On top of that, 2 of the XD60's are currently out of service: 374 (t-boned by a car) and 391 (unknown). Simply put, we don't have enough artics. There should be more arriving in the Spring or Summer, but until that happens, we are short on artics.

 

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On 2/1/2023 at 11:14 AM, trebor204 said:

Light Rail coming?

 

Winnipeg Transit is looking for options on Line B (Main Street to St Mary's) on the type of service (either Bus Rapid or LIGHT RAIL)

https://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/ViewDoc.asp?DocId=23169&SectionId=674176&InitUrl=

See Report #3

 

The city is starting to look into it and Councillor Mayes is spearheading it. The Orange Line makes a lot of sense as LRT. So does Portage Avenue, but I think the Orange Line may happen first. Doing Portage as LRT would require a transfer around Union Station as long as the Southwest Transitway is BRT.  Even if the city chooses to go through with it, it’s still a long ways away. But they should do it soon, as this level of Transit infrastructure funding really only exists while the current Federal Government is in charge.

And it would be on-street LRT, similar to a tram. The decision they have to make is if they do BRT or LRT on that corridor. LRT is better long-term, but of course is more expensive. But without knowing exactly how much it will cost, it’s hard to know where the money will come from. However, public opinion favours LRT pretty significantly. We’ll see what happens…

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I think the better candidate for light rail might be a Regent/Portage line eventually to stretch from eastern Transcona all the way to western Assiniboia.  I would build it in phases over many years, perhaps with a starter line ("Phase Zero"?) from Balmoral Station to Polo Park. The Transcona bit would be from City Hall/Concert Hall/Manitoba Museum eastward.  At some point the eastern and western lines would need to be connected with an underground tunnel from Balmoral Station to City Hall/Concert Hall/Manitoba Museum.

I wouldn't expect to start construction of "Phase Zero" for around a decade.  It's still not clear which changes caused by the pandemic will [gradually] reverse and which changes will turn out to be [mostly] permanent.  Will working from home remain big, or will workers gradually return to offices?  What's the future of shopping centres versus online shopping?  If office towers and shopping centres are significantly diminished travel destinations then what remains? Medical? Manufacturing? You might be able to build a light rail line through downtown based on 260 days/year of office workers but probably not on 40 Jets home games and 10 concerts a year.

A factor that would have helped justify LRT would have been the Climate Change crisis, but people (here and everywhere) seem determined to only take token measures.

Winnipeg's gonna "winnipeg" and nothing will happen. Story of the last hundred years here.  I'm very pessimistic.

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LRT would be perfect connecting Polo Park to downtown, especially with 4000+ homes being developed at Polo Park over the next 10 years. Would remove a lot of vehicle traffic for the U of W, Exchange, Forks, and Canada Life Centre. I also agree it will be around 10 years before trains are taking passengers, but that work needs to start now in order for that to be possible.

I think the likely LRT lines are Main Street-St Mary’s (Orange in the TMP) and Portage Avenue, connecting to either the SWRT, or continuing down Provencher.

I’m hoping this moves forward this term of council. Transit will say we won’t need LRT for another 10 years - exactly. That’s how long it will take if we begin now. If we start in 10 years, it will arrive too late. While we get our LRT in order, implement the short term TMP with the Frequent Service Network - have it all set up so that when LRT opens, it all links together beautifully. Start with just one LRT line, build the second when the system is a bit more established. Choose the best route with growth and ridership potential for the first line. This needs a lot of vision, and I’m excited the conversation is starting again. Let’s see where it goes!

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My sources say Mr. Radstrom will explain to the IPW Committee why LRT cannot be done in Winnipeg.

It's the same "song and dance" we've been hearing for at least half a Century. It's accepted "fact" among several generations of municipal and provincial politicians and City bureaucrats to such a degree that they diagnose "insanity" for anyone who doesn't think the way they do.

Winnipeg's gonna "winnipeg".

"winnipeg" verb. Definition: 1. an action arising from small-town ambition and 'we can't do' attitude. 2. Gimme my discount.

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