Winnipeg City Transit/Rapid Transit

[ColdRain&Snow]

Originally Posted by Luisito

SO we won't even be able to finish the BRT plan?

It's hard to say, but the BRT plan will probably still get built. The difference between transit infrastructure and road infrastructure is that the provincial and federal governments are willing to contribute money to transit but not to roads. The Blue Line BRT cost about $590 million. The provincial government contributed $225 million, the federal government contributed $140 million, and the city contributed $225 million.

Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...nsit-1.2649080

Compare that to the Kenaston Widening project, which the federal government has already rejected to fund twice.

Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...cost-1.6845614

[bomberjet]

Stage 2 of the southwest transitway came in at just over $400 million. Including 30 years of mainteance. I think the actual cost was 250 million or so.

Basically the city is broke and we will need to cherry pick large projects, if any actually get done. Serverly leaning towards nothing getting done anytime soon.

This has been known for years and the mayor campaigned on a billion dollars of roads. Go figure.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by Luisito

SO we won't even be able to finish the BRT plan?

Quite honestly I'm also not worried if the city doesn't jump into the Eastern BRT corridor to Transcona (Pink line) any time soon given what was presented for public feedback in 2022.

Here's a link for those that wanted to go over it again:

https://view.genial.ly/618bde4bd4a4e00d9b9b0071

The first public designs are usually the most imaginative and high reaching (so that it can be value-engineered later), and that is what they could come up with. It boils down to bus lanes downtown and an excuse to replace the Louise bridge, with the remaining route past Watt/Nairn as TBD. Not an actual dedicated corridor, just at-grade bus lanes with fancy stations.

I'd rather that one sit on a shelf and be re-studied in 5 years to get something better.

In the meantime, I'd be happy for the Transit Masterplan to get implemented.

[bomberjet]

Nothings getting done at this point. The 2025 master plan implementation seems rushed. They mentioned earlier they qont even have the basic infra in place. Like bus loop, comfort stations and even bus stop infra.

[NewIreland]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Nothings getting done at this point. The 2025 master plan implementation seems rushed. They mentioned earlier they qont even have the basic infra in place. Like bus loop, comfort stations and even bus stop infra.

Can't they at least get the current BRT line extended to Union Station???

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Nothings getting done at this point. The 2025 master plan implementation seems rushed. They mentioned earlier they qont even have the basic infra in place. Like bus loop, comfort stations and even bus stop infra.

The plans actually look quite pathetic. Specially considering people are saying these brt routes can serve lrt in the future. What kind of lrt? A slow moving tram sharing the road with traffic? This is all really sad, Winnipeg deserves better.

[WinCitySparky]

Meanwhile we have this idiotic gas tax cut costing the province $150 million so the suburban truck fucks can save a few bucks on gas and we lose out on even more road and transit potential funding. Very stupid move and one more step down the ladder for societal improvement.

[FactaNV]

I know this will sound stupid but I'm only half-joking. Is there a mechanism for soliciting funds/crowd-funding public infrastructure, maybe for tax exemption receipts? We're broke as a civic government, the province is broke and what money they do have is needed for healthcare and other priorities. I would gladly contribute a couple hundred bucks a year in return for a tax deduction. Food for thought and honestly, we need some drastic and new ideas to figure out a solution to the financial quagmire that is Winnipeg after the disastrous Katz policies.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

Meanwhile we have this idiotic gas tax cut costing the province $150 million so the suburban truck fucks can save a few bucks on gas and we lose out on even more road and transit potential funding. Very stupid move and one more step down the ladder for societal improvement.

I’ll have to step in here, it does bring a level of immediate relief. It will disproportionately benefit people who need to drive a lot, but also those at a lower income. It’s not just truck fucks. I drive a Jetta and will probably save 40 bucks a month

[GEli]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

I’ll have to step in here, it does bring a level of immediate relief. It will disproportionately benefit people who need to drive a lot, but also those at a lower income. It’s not just truck fucks. I drive a Jetta and will probably save 40 bucks a month

May as well cut $40 general rebate cheques in NDP colours to every of age citizen. Specifically subsidizing gas purchasing would be ridiculous in 1994 and is especially ridiculous in 2024. At least a direct vote buying scheme keeps the tone the last government set and can be made more progressive by targeting lower income people.

On theme for the thread, we could make transit free for two years for $150M at current ridership. If free skyrockets ridership (what a wonderful problem to have) we blow the wad in a single year and scale the service up. Still double the period of relief we're giving with this silly tax holiday.

[Justanothermember]

The whole gas tax cut was short-sighted and ill-advised, nothing more than a vote grab at election time.

Wob is looking and sounding more and more like a clueless man as each day passes. He is all about photo ops and fuzzy feel-good social media posts, with a few blurbs about health care here and there. He will be another disaster politician for this province.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by GEli

If free skyrockets ridership (what a wonderful problem to have) we blow the wad in a single year and scale the service up.

Who is going to drive the buses? WT needs another 160-170 operators to run full service currently. The reduced service being run right now requires massive amounts of overtime. Some drivers are working 16 hours on their day off and still some runs are not being operated.

[WinCitySparky]

If they spent some of that $150 million on raising driver wages instead, I imagine we’d have more people wanting to drive buses.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

If they spent some of that $150 million on raising driver wages instead, I imagine we’d have more people wanting to drive buses.

Here's the fly in the ointment. If operator's wages were to go up more than was recently negotiated, WPA wages would have to go up too due to a clause in their contract.

One thing that could be done is to reduce the time it takes a new operator to get to top rate. Currently it takes 4 years. Reducing that to 2 years, as it is in other places in Canada, could help. Several have left within their first 2 years for Calgary or Edmonton, where the starting wage is higher than the top rate in Winnipeg.

An interesting thing to note. 130 new operators were hired last year and it didn't help in increasing the number of bus operators employed by Winnipeg Transit. They are leaving as fast as they can be hired.

[Atrial78]

Does reducing the gas tax lead to some relief in other prices like groceries, etc? I imagine everything is affected by the cost of transportation and so I saw this as a way to somewhat lower inflation in other goods, rather than simply a cut for drivers. I could be way off here though.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by Atrial78

Does reducing the gas tax lead to some relief in other prices like groceries, etc? I imagine everything is affected by the cost of transportation and so I saw this as a way to somewhat lower inflation in other goods, rather than simply a cut for drivers. I could be way off here though.

In a perfect world - yes. In the real world, keep rates the same, pocket the extra $0.30 a litre.

[plrh]

Originally Posted by Atrial78

Does reducing the gas tax lead to some relief in other prices like groceries, etc? I imagine everything is affected by the cost of transportation and so I saw this as a way to somewhat lower inflation in other goods, rather than simply a cut for drivers. I could be way off here though.

I don't think diesel was included in the exemption, but I don't know for sure. I don't think regular gas would impact inflation beyond its direct use, unfortunately.

[WinCitySparky]

The suggestion about cutting the time it takes to get to top rate is a good one, I agree.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by plrh

I don't think diesel was included in the exemption, but I don't know for sure. I don't think regular gas would impact inflation beyond its direct use, unfortunately.

"The Manitoba government has introduced amendments to Bill 3, the fuel tax amendment act, which will temporarily pause the collection of the provincial tax on gasoline, natural gas, marked fuel and diesel fuels for at least six months starting January 1, 2024."

https://www.gov.mb.ca/gastax/index.html

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

The suggestion about cutting the time it takes to get to top rate is a good one, I agree.

The training rate is increased to full 1st year rate in the new CBA. It may help to attract more applicants, but it won't help to keep them after training. So much money is wasted training people that won't stay or who aren't really suited to the job. An extra week has been added to their "booked ahead" period (increased from 4 to 5 weeks) after training is complete in order that the training branch can give extra one on one training to those who need it.