Winnipeg Transit Doesn't Serve Its Customers Well

Winnipeg needs to get with the times and massively upgrade its bus-based system.

For a metro area of 741,893 [1] they rely on 595 diesel vehicles. This amount is insufficient, as it no longer matters what time of the day one rides Winnipeg Transit (WT). The buses are _always crowded_, morning, noon, and night. Of course the politicians love hearing this.

But the thing is that riding with strangers, who sometimes are polar opposites in personality or whatever, can produce PTSD-like symptoms in passengers, who just want to get where they're going.

I suggest WT invest in expanding their fleet, increasing the numbers of 60 ft. "long buses", put aside their hate for rail-based transit, etc. 

Another thing that WT does to irritate its passengers is that many routes take jags here and there. For example on the 95 Morley-Taylor route, the 95 goes right into the parking lot of Pan Am Pool. Why? If someone is healthy enough to go swimming, why does WT have to literally go out of their way to accommodate them?

WT needs to reorganize its route structure like the TTC does. Bus and streetcar routes on the TTC generally follow straight-line paths, not here and there. So-called "Crosstown Routes" are too long and laborious. The 16 and the 18 should not come from the North End and end up in Tuxedo.

Recent reports suggest that the criminals who have been vandalizing cars and property in River Heights have been taking the 18.

Split up routes. Simplify them.

My suggestion is that the 95 should be split into two separate routes and each new route ...one from Polo Park to Stafford / Pembina, the other from Riverview Health Centre to Stafford / Pembina Loop. I remember in the 1970s the Morley bus used to be called Jubilee.

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1 Statistics Canada 2011 Census Data