Winnipeg Transit Free for Kids

Transit rides for under 11 accompanied by adults has been part of bus transport for some time. The city, with provincial funding, has added students with ID from school age 12 to 21 to the free users. It is a one year project to see how it will run. It is just under a $90 a month benefit for students per child in Winnipeg. The cost savings for a family with two kids could be as high as $1,500. The program will run in Winnipeg, Brandon, Flin Flon, Selkirk and Winkler. Across all those communities the province will set aside $10 million.

It is such a modest investment with real money savings for families that is hard to believe it hasn't been considered before now. And given that the province has invested in things like a $5 million plus daycare that remains shuttered and a source of crime, it seems like this is a good idea whose time has come.

Young people will take the bus to things like school events when school buses are not operating such as weekends, evenings and holidays. They will go to recreation facilities, concert venues, museums, movie theatres, restaurants or to see grandma if they have the buses, routes and their student ID. One other aspect is that kids can use this during the year when not at school to work. This could be one of the more meaningful benefits to being a student and families in terms of cost and enriching the lives of those involved.

The city of Winnipeg will have to be responsive to security, capacity and routing over this test pilot. The reliability of the system could help build trust and forever users. A healthy system is not just five days of commuters but people who use it for hockey games, going to the mall and the like. It can't be a long walk to a stop, a long wait for a bus and danger every step of the way. Winnipeg Transit could use this for generational change and an accelerated timetable of rapid transit.

Gillingham seemed ecstatic that he could make this announcement during an election cycle. It almost seemed an endorsement by Kinew but it could also mean trying to get some sympathetic councillors on board when the NDP go to the polls. That might be as early as next year. It could be they are looking to knock off Obby Khan and the PCs and take the last Liberal seat. This could prove a popular urban policy.

Around the world, some cities have taken up public transportation as a truly taxpayer system for students right up to the university level. Ensuring that student cards are the price of admission is a selling point for being in school, a real savings for families that could have two or three kids and promotes an environmental response to cars on the road. It up to the city and school divisions to make use of their service and make it great and up to the province to make this permanent.

Bus Driver Protection

The bus drivers union has been begging for better shield protection for over ten years. The half shield has resulted in some passengers reaching in to the wheel to grab in their attack on drivers. The most recent CBC investigation of violence on buses has shown a significant rise across Canada. Not just drivers are in danger but passengers as well. No other city in Canada has seen a higher rise of violence on buses since 2015.

Winnipeg Police have been aboard buses in recent weeks and have made arrests. Transit supervisors have been trying to make a difference on fare jumping. It has been an ongoing battle. Add to that the destruction of bus shelters or the taking over of them as encampments and the entire experience of travelling on bus has been more unpleasant or downright dangerous.

The driver shortage seems very linked to the lack of safety they feel. Improving the service means having enough drivers. Safety and wages will help. So many drivers are five years from retiring. This is probably true of every public service in the city. Police are close to hundreds of cop taking retirement. The big question is even if wages are attractive, will the jobs still go wanting?

The full shield for drivers seems the best solution for driver safety. The issue of passenger safety is still just as much a priority. The shield still has to allow the driver to view passengers coming aboard for safety. No sense blocking the view of the doors just to run someone over. Thanks for nothing.

Despite security cameras on buses, there seems to be a defiance that any consequences will result from being violent.  Or in some case, mental health or addiction issues means some people just have no impulse control. Protecting the drivers can't mean screening them from seeing people being attacked in their own buses. 

The bus shelters themselves are getting shatter proof glass. It has taken a while to fill the orders. So many were wiped out by people. It is unclear if it was by those using the shelters for homes or by people trying to prevent them from being homes. Or maybe it was out and out vandalism to break things. No one was ever arrested for the many shelters smashed.

If Winnipeg was Sim City, the entire urban area would be on fire with police and fire tracks running all around. It is difficult to know where to respond to next. However, targets have to be picked. When liquor stores were being robbed the province opted for locked doors, ID and security guards. The program worked and they are mostly secure for employees and customers. It is now cannabis stores that are looking to up their security with some violent robberies becoming more frequent.

It is sad security has to be such a priority but car locks, house locks, bikes locks and the like have been around forever. Personal security has become one of the biggest issues. The full shield at least allows drivers of buses to have a measure of safety. As for the passengers, they can't be potential victims of violence because they take the bus or are waiting for one. Security and police have been promised and in some cases have been present but it will take some time to show perpetrators that fare jumping and bad behaviour aboard the buses will be dealt with. And once that happens, customers will feel more secure.

Controlled access to buses, stores, offices and shops is basic security nowadays. Keeping workers safe in their workplace is key. As for bus stops, they can't become shelters or traps for someone to be assaulted. They have to cameras and regular checks by Transit and police.

There is no doubt that mental health and addictions are contributing to violence when combined with poverty and homelessness. This doesn't mean the public transit attacks, robberies and the like are acceptable. And if encampments are not ever accepted on school grounds, why should a bus shelter be acceptable? Sympathy is fine but not at the expense of public security. Shelters with wrap-around supports are necessary for those with mental health needs. And for those who have addictions issues, the wait for treatment can't be a prolonged one. We need places more promptly. As for those who don't seek or accept treatment, the crimes committed to support their addictions can't be brushed away. 

The police have had a very successful fall for arrests for prolific arsonists, shoplifters and for incidents aboard buses. This must be maintained because repeat offenders will not be stopped any other way. However, things like bus driver protection and fare enforcement buses are the city's responsibility as are safety features for bus shelters. Security cameras have been shown to be effective in helping to prevent theft and vandalism but have been shown in studies not to be helpful in preventing violence. In Britain, terrorists knew the cameras would not stop them from an attack. However, they were used to track the terrorists. This should be a good reminder about cameras on buses. They might not an attack but they can who did it.

The city should go ahead with the shields and with other real time safety features. However, for every safety feature, there will be workarounds for those with ill intent. When buses were hit by bombs in Israel, they had security before people got on the bus. Then bombs and attacks happened to those lined up for the bus. The point is that safety is not just one thing you do, it is something that you build piece by piece. Sometimes it means preventing violence from happening by getting to understand who the people committing the acts are.

There is no doubt if the city can't get a handle on transit in terms of safety, routes and convenience, they will see it collapse and find that no amount of road building will help them solve the time and logistics of travel. It is time to fix the problem.

Union Bank Building in 1904

A few interesting things to note about the construction of the Union Bank Tower in 1904. The first is that they appear to fill in the floors from the middle rather than the bottom. My speculation is that because they constructed this skyscraper without a crane, they needed to bring in building material though both the first three floors and up inside the structure. That, in addition to, a pully system on the outside.

Pretty much all horses up and down Main Street at this time. Streetcars were not allowed in the downtown area even though the first electric ones appeared by the 1890s further down Main Street. City council was against the electric lines and when they did finally approve construction, used a bigtime railway company rather than the local who built the system in the first place. Bribes were suspected.

The luxurious Leland Hotel is seen behind the Union Bank building. It was destroyed in a fire in this century after being abandoned.

Today's Union Bank building in now a vital part of Red River College's downtown campus serving as residence and home for the culinary arts school.

Xcelsior Bus

I saw the Xcelsior bus on the Corydon route this Friday evening. It is a smart looking vehicle and the colour is fairly cool.

The bus is supposed to represent the future in bus travel as it is quieter and features lightweight materials and LED lights.

I don't know how quiet it is based on this video.

The bus apparently comes in a hybrid as well.

I don't know what to think on the LRT versus BRT debate other than the city approved a plan and now seems to have doubts. Welch's Gripe Juice details what some of those issues are.

I know one thing. Any public transit coming my way doesn't have a lot of density to work with to make it frequent enough. And then there is the issue that I travel from suburb to suburb in terms of work. The bus doesn't start early enough or run late enough for me to drop my car.

Now, I know that I could change jobs, move to a higher density area and live on a busier street but it is worth noting that people work in areas of city where there are jobs in their chosen field, live in neighbourhoods that they can afford and on the best routes possible to traverse the distances to school, work, shops and the like. It isn't always easy.

In short, planning makes it possible to consider diversity, density and distance in terms of how people live and work. The city needs to work on that.

A snazzy bus might be sexy but in practicality, I would benefit if the city went ahead and improved transit corridors so that they were attractive to employers and home and apartment builders. This would not end the use of a car in a city as spread out as Winnipeg but it would help create a new dynamic where it might be possible for me to catch public transit seven days a week.



myspace hit counter

Berkshares

I was going to mention this back a while ago but this seems to be the first opportunity to do so. USA Today no longer comes to the city. Shortly after the paper started, USA Today boxes could be found throughout the city. Don't know how long they lasted but it was years. After they were removed, the paper was available at some 7/elevens as well as the major book stores. No more. Since March of 2009, you cannot find a USA Today in any of the traditional stores. I have not tried Dominion News but you can't get it at McNally or Chapters.

USA Today content on the web includes all their print material but it is not the same as sitting reading the paper with its bright photos and great illustrations. I still think their mapping of the Inaugural in Washington showed how superior a newspaper is for some things.

USA Today often writes stories others don't cover which makes it an interesting paper. Back in early April, they wrote a story on Berkshares, a plan were local communities print their own paper currency during hard times.

The principle of the idea is that businesses and individuals form a group whereby they pay for a local currency at a discounted level. Usually that is around 5%. In other words, a person pay .95 cents for a currency worth $1.00 in local stores.

Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses. Since its start in 2006, the system, the largest of its kind in the country, has circulated $2.3 million worth of BerkShares. In Detroit, three business owners are printing $4,500 worth of Detroit Cheers, which they are handing out to customers to spend in one of 12 shops.

This has been advertised as a good thing for small towns but why not a city like Winnipeg?

The Downtown Biz already has the Blue Loony program but you only get a $1 coin after spending $20 worth of services. It is good for parking, transit or a number of businesses. I don't know if someone buys a dinner of over $100 whether they receive $10 coins. My understanding of it is no.

Interesting program for what it is worth. Would love to see it in Winnipeg.



myspace hit counter

Bits and Bites

I don't think anyone can be unmoved by the woman who discovered her dog sitting on a counter months after it was supposed to have been buried. The crematorium has been closed but questions of how the industry is regulated by officials and users of these facilities needs to be examined. Veterinarians need to be more aware of where the animals are going to be disposed of. The Winnipeg Humane Society only stopped using this company two months ago when they failed to pick up animals consistently. Obviously, not enough people seemed concerned about what happened to pets once they were removed from vet clinics and the Humane Society until now. That has to change.

***

Speaking of The Humane Society , they are few months from moving to their new facility off of Waverley. The Kent Road premises are not big enough to handle the amount of animals processed each year. The building had become long in the tooth and was not good for housing animals, displaying animals for adoption and not great for walking dogs.

I guess some of the major concerns about the move are:

How will it affect the volunteer base?

People in the east end of the city will find it not as convenient to get to the new facility. Having said that, perhaps the volunteer base will grow because they are more centrally located.

Is the Humane Society close to public transit?

Waverley has regular bus service heading towards the university. The problem is that the bus stop is some distance from the actual Humane Society building. The section of Waverley is a pretty windy section because of the railroad tracks. These tracks were the same ones that overturned a woman's scooter as she crossed. That whole crossing is not very people friendly for those wanting to walk or bike to the new building.

Is it is easy to drive to the Humane Society?

Well, there is a turning lane but getting on and off Waverley isn't a piece of cake. It may be a problem for many people.

In any event, the new building is totally needed and with any luck, some of the problems mentioned will work themselves out.