Winnipeg Construction X

[Biff]

I feel the difference is - in the last 6 months I have been to Vancouver, Minneapolis and Niagara Falls. In all instances I never noticed the homeless encampments, garbage and transit shelter occupation like here in Winnipeg. I know that all of this exists in these cities but it is fairly localized.

Winnipeg has seemed to let it get out of control to where it is all over the city. I assume this is what happens when the city doesn't have them move along. We have allowed it to occur and now it is everywhere. If they are told they can't occupy a bus shelter on St Marys and Bishop they will likely end up back in the Main St strip....where all the resources are.

[rivercity]

Yeah.. when I was in Toronto recently for a trip people that I was meeting in the city told me to watch out for sketchiness while taking the train and while downtown. Once I met up with them I had to laugh as it was the least sketchy thing compared to say riding the 16 in Winnipeg.

[pegcityboy]

Surprised about that because I was in Vancouver not long ago and it was a “ Tent City “ on Hastings street with lots and lots of homeless camps but I get what you are saying it was a big area but really only on a couple of streets there .

[WinCitySparky]

Originally Posted by pegcityboy

Surprised about that because I was in Vancouver not long ago and it was a “ Tent City “ on Hastings street with lots and lots of homeless camps but I get what you are saying it was a big area but really only on a couple of streets there .

Hastings St as been a wasteland of human suffering for 30 years or more

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Someone's brought a mattress and put up curtains at the bus "shelter" at St. Mary's Rd in front of Santa Lucia.

[WinCitySparky]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

Someone's brought a mattress and put up curtains at the bus "shelter" at St. Mary's Rd in front of Santa Lucia.

Maybe it’s an AirBnB?

[ScrappyPeg]

Just shouldn't be allowed. You can work towards long term solutions but you shouldn't forget there needs to be some immediate remedies because we all deserve to feel safe in public spaces. People screaming for long term solutions to social issues, that have been ignored and allowed to fester for decades, need to know that they (the social issues) won't be resolved overnight. And I'm ok with long term solutions but in the meantime..

[BubberMiley]

It fuels an environment of lawlessness that quickly leads to increased theft and violence.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

Someone's brought a mattress and put up curtains at the bus "shelter" at St. Mary's Rd in front of Santa Lucia.

It was like that at least 2x this winter. One time a minor fire cleaned it up.

[bomberjet]

The City and Transit just need to be persistent in removing people from bus shelters. Like every day have people out there. Cadets would be well suited for that work. They drive around aimlessly anyways. That's it. It takes effort and will. Both of which the City has very little of.

[(sub)urban]

bus shelter in front of The Bay on Portage was gone this afternoon. looked like it was just clean yanked out of the ground. Ironically enough it was also the first time I'd walked past and seen two transit cops watching over the stop hahah

[drew]

^ that shelter has been gone for months now.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

The City and Transit just need to be persistent in removing people from bus shelters. Like every day have people out there. Cadets would be well suited for that work. They drive around aimlessly anyways. That's it. It takes effort and will. Both of which the City has very little of.

Winnipeg should already have a transit police force in place, no one should be allowed to ride for free and obviously bus shelters should be for transit users only, of course all this takes action by a real mayor and good city council neither of which exists in Winnipeg!

Shitty politicians on all levels has led to this…..turning Winnipeg into a pretty undesirable place to live!

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Winnipeg should already have a transit police force in place, no one should be allowed to ride for free and obviously bus shelters should be for transit users only, of course all this takes action by a real mayor and good city council neither of which exists in Winnipeg!

Shitty politicians on all levels has led to this…..turning Winnipeg into a pretty undesirable place to live!

Time for city council to turn this bumper sticker into municipal transit policy!

[3de14eec6a]

Flip that around. Everyone should ride for free. I'd happily pay the extra in taxes and almost never use it.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by 3de14eec6a

Flip that around. Everyone should ride for free. I'd happily pay the extra in taxes and almost never use it.

So in other words you really don’t pay much in taxes, because usually those that advocate for more taxation are in that category!

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by 3de14eec6a

Flip that around. Everyone should ride for free. I'd happily pay the extra in taxes and almost never use it.

100% agree. Transit usage at U of M is so high because the U-pass is just so ridiculously cheap compared to a transit pass that it would be foolish not to use it. I save about $600 every year compared to using the normal pass and god knows how much money I save utilizing the U-Pass instead of driving and paying $75/month for parking.

But it does seem in 2021 that fares only accounted for 32% of transit’s funding while 66% of transit’s funding came from property tax revenue (46%) and provincial grants (20%). The TTC for comparison gets 38% of funding from revenue and 38% from the municipal level with about 20% of funding from other streams of government primarily the provincial government. Calgary gets about 44% of its operating budget from transit revenue as another comparison. However, with the increased ridership Winnipeg is expected to have approximately 43% of transit funding come from revenue by the end of this year or 2023.

Anyways, to make up for the 32% we would need to find about $68 million in funding to offset any revenue streams for transit. If it was done primarily through property tax each household would need to pay an extra $226 a year. However, if you consider that a transit pass is $1200 yearly that would save the average Winnipegger nearly $1000 if they decide to use transit going forward. Of course there’s the other option of the provincial government providing more grants considering 60% of the population of Manitoba lives in Winnipeg. So there’s alternatives to funding transit to make more accessible for lower income residents through taxes but I don’t think any of the candidates appear to have the political will to implement such a system.

[Authentic_City]

Here's an idea: why not charge the primary users of roads a fee for the service? We expect transit riders and users of city pools to pay for those services, so why isn't there a user fee to use roads, highways and bridges? I can drive my car for free on a city road, but I have to pay $3.10 to ride the bus? (and don't worry, I pay plenty of municipal tax). If you want transit users to pay their share, drivers should do the same. Fair's fair. If 32% of transit’s funding comes from fares, shouldn't some portion of roads be paid for by users?

Maintaining order and safety on transit is another matter. Simply pricing the poor and the homeless out of using transit is not the answer.

[Arcticwolf]

I dunno how this has turned into a transit topic. Amazing! Please use the one for transit.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Arcticwolf

I dunno how this has turned into a transit topic. Amazing! Please use the one for transit.

Agreed!
Once in awhile, too often latley topics are incorrect for the heading.
Is that a sign that there not enough new developments to discuss?