(WINNIPEGTRANSIT.COM)
The City of Winnipeg says it’s taking the first steps towards how to deploy rapid transit in downtown Winnipeg in the future.
“Rapid transit benefits all road users by moving buses from regular traffic into a dedicated lane. Putting rapid transit Downtown would help our Transit system work the way people expect: Simple, reliable, and easy to use,” reads a statement from the City.
The City plans to start by collecting information from downtown residents, workers and business owners who are along the proposed rapid transit corridors in the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan.
Then, city planners will work on draft designs and “talk to all Winnipeggers about the project.”
There is currently no dedicated funding for downtown rapid transit, but the City says these first steps will help to plan for resources and investments.
Stakeholders will be reached out to starting in June for meetings, and then from the fall of 2026 to spring of 2028, the city plans to hold three rounds of public engagement to gather feedback.
We will reach out directly to nearby stakeholders to schedule meetings for June. These meetings will help us understand how the project may affect them before we start exploring design options.
“By summer 2028, we will have a design that will show what rapid transit in Downtown will look like. We will also have a cost estimate that we will use to apply for funding for construction. Timelines for construction will depend on funding,” said the City.
The cost of the design project is $5.25 million, funded by all three levels of government.
Sign up for project updates at winnipeg.ca/rapidtransitdowntown.
