Osborne Street BRT Station (WINNIPEGTRANSIT.COM)
WINNIPEG — Bus riders in the city’s southwest will see a major shift in how they navigate bus routes once the second stage of the Southwest Transitway is open next spring.
Winnipeg Transit has put forward a proposal for the BLUE Line, a “spine-and-feeder network in southwest Winnipeg.”
A map of Winnipeg Transit’s proposed BLUE Line. Click to enlarge. (HANDOUT)
The city says the dedicated transitway will add an additional 7.6 kilometres to connect downtown with the University of Manitoba and St. Norbert. The BLUE Line will encompass the transitway itself, while the neighbourhoods it will service will form the “feeders.”
Winnipeg Transit says the line will offer passengers more freedom and flexibility in their travel, while also providing faster service.
“Passengers will catch their neighbourhood feeder bus, take it to a BLUE Line station, and transfer to a BLUE Line bus, instead of waiting for one specific bus,” Transit says.
The new BLUE Line service plan will see average wait times of 2-3 minutes for transfers from feeder routes to the BLUE Line, and 5-8 minute wait times for transfers from the BLUE Line to feeder routes.
Construction on stage two of the Southwest Transitway was completed earlier this month. The city says after a testing period and training, it will open to bus passengers in April 2020.
The administrative report on the changes (below) will go before the city’s standing policy committee on infrastructure renewal and public works on November 4.
