[Curmudgeon]

^^^ The Wilson Plan may have been a very expensive mistake. During the 1950s Greater Winnipeg grew from about 350,000 to about 475,000 or 35% in one decade. The Plan forecast Winnipeg's population to grow to about 850,000 by 1980, which is slightly higher than today's population almost 45 years later. These figures are within the boundaries of today's City of Winnipeg plus Headingley, and E. and W. St. Paul, but not the distant exurbs such as Niverville or Stonewall that are included in today's Winnipeg Metropolitan Region. Had 1950s growth rates have continued, Winnipeg would today be a city of 3 million.

That is not what did happen though. Population growth slowed dramatically in the 1960s, increasing to 540,000 by 1971 and 570,000 by 1981 and then only to 660,000 by 2001. The city would have had a system which by about 20-25 years ago would have needed all stations to be retro-fitted as well as new rolling stock, which has about a 40 year life expectancy. It may have been similar to the 45 year old Concourse, the costs to upgrade and maintain being simply too great.

I don't think the plan reflects the pre-Unicity boundaries of Winnipeg, but rather a very good portion of the high transit use areas of the time. Transit by that time was operated by the Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission and then Metro Transit starting in 1961. That is another point to make. While growth may have followed a different pattern if the subway system had been built, in actuality the service area as detailed by the map has declined in population. The City of Winnipeg in its pre-Unicity boundaries has lost about 1/3 of its population since 1961. Then it contained about 55% of the Metro's population, now it is under 25%. Jane Jacobs described suburbs as parasitic. Unicity has not been kind to the inner city. As suburban councillors are the majority, suburban interests get top priority. So, auto commuting times and ample parking become a primary focus. The inner city continues to decline, esp. most of the North and West Ends and Elmwood.

I think Winnipeg is large enough now though for rail based rapid transit. Though not an underground subway as costs have risen prohibitively. No heavy rail metro has been built in North America in over 30 years, the most recent being in L.A., though many existing systems have been expanded.