Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[dennis]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

these numbers still use older 2016 boundaries

What surprises me is how Selkirk and communities west of the red river arent part of the CMA

Selkirk has a relatively good industry base such as the steel plant, retail, services and health care that they draw their own commuter base. With that new solar glass factory, it will only cement Selkirk as being its own CA.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

these numbers still use older 2016 boundaries

What surprises me is how Selkirk and communities west of the red river arent part of the CMA

Imo for Selkirk to be absorbed into our CMA we have to improve the transportation options so Winnipeg commuters can justify living in Selkirk as well. It would be great if the Main Street future rapid transit route had a Selkirk option just like how some Blue line busses go to St. Norbert rather then U of M.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Imo for Selkirk to be absorbed into our CMA we have to improve the transportation options so Winnipeg commuters can justify living in Selkirk as well. It would be great if the Main Street future rapid transit route had a Selkirk option just like how some Blue line busses go to St. Norbert rather then U of M.

Selkirk has to have 50% of its residents commuting to Winnipeg for employment. I can't see that happening anytime soon. Strange that they are not included in the St Andrews Municipality (along with Dunnottar and Winnipeg Beach).

As for any type of rapid transit line? Not going to happen.

No offence, but living in Edmonton, it makes zero sense to build the LRT from Century Park to the Airport. Edmonton is planning on expanding their LRT route to 41 Street SW, which has all been built up in the last decade. However, the Airport is 10 km from that point and considering that Leduc (15 km outside Edmonton) is the nearest large population center (35,000), it's not economically viable, as the demand for service does not even come close to the cost of 15km of track they would need to connect Edmonton to the Airport and Leduc.

Selkirk is roughly 23 km from Riverside, which is the closest subdivision in Winnipeg to the town. There is no airport, industrial area, or population base to support this. Selkirk has 10,000 people and has not really grown much in 50 years. Leduc at one point had 5,000 people in 1972. Now it will approach 40,000 before the end of the decade. If expanding an LRT makes no economic sense in the Edmonton area, it would never be built from Winnipeg to Selkirk.

Unless Winnipeg triples in size, and the metro area reaches Selkirk (which will never happen), there is no need for an LRT, or a BRT for that matter. We should be concentrating on population density at any rate.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

Selkirk has to have 50% of its residents commuting to Winnipeg for employment. I can't see that happening anytime soon. Strange that they are not included in the St Andrews Municipality (along with Dunnottar and Winnipeg Beach).

As for any type of rapid transit line? Not going to happen.

No offence, but living in Edmonton, it makes zero sense to build the LRT from Century Park to the Airport. Edmonton is planning on expanding their LRT route to 41 Street SW, which has all been built up in the last decade. However, the Airport is 10 km from that point and considering that Leduc (15 km outside Edmonton) is the nearest large population center (35,000), it's not economically viable, as the demand for service does not even come close to the cost of 15km of track they would need to connect Edmonton to the Airport and Leduc.

Selkirk is roughly 23 km from Riverside, which is the closest subdivision in Winnipeg to the town. There is no airport, industrial area, or population base to support this. Selkirk has 10,000 people and has not really grown much in 50 years. Leduc at one point had 5,000 people in 1972. Now it will approach 40,000 before the end of the decade. If expanding an LRT makes no economic sense in the Edmonton area, it would never be built from Winnipeg to Selkirk.

Unless Winnipeg triples in size, and the metro area reaches Selkirk (which will never happen), there is no need for an LRT, or a BRT for that matter. We should be concentrating on population density at any rate.

True I guess rather then rapid transit just some sort of regional bus service would be helpful. Ik we had greyhound and it didn’t work but if we shift to the provider being the province or create some sort of regional transit agency it would help mobility between the two places a ton, and maybe even convince a few commuters too choose Selkirk.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

True I guess rather then rapid transit just some sort of regional bus service would be helpful. Ik we had greyhound and it didn’t work but if we shift to the provider being the province or create some sort of regional transit agency it would help mobility between the two places a ton, and maybe even convince a few commuters too choose Selkirk.

It was Beaver running commuter buses for years. Grey Goose used to stop there and travel as far north as Riverton. No one has been able to make a go of servicing Winnipeg to Selkirk since. Would need a provincial subsidy and maybe some Selkirk advertising to go with it. Selkirk Park would make a great summer destination for City people without cars.

[Luisito]

Was there ever a greyhound between Winnipeg and Minneapolis?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

It was Beaver running commuter buses for years. Grey Goose used to stop there and travel as far north as Riverton. No one has been able to make a go of servicing Winnipeg to Selkirk since. Would need a provincial subsidy and maybe some Selkirk advertising to go with it. Selkirk Park would make a great summer destination for City people without cars.

It's interesting, Grey Goose and Greyhound still had a very robust rural route network in Manitoba during the early 90s, but about 15 years later, it was almost gone. They disappeared faster than passenger trains, which went out more gradually.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's interesting, Grey Goose and Greyhound still had a very robust rural route network in Manitoba during the early 90s, but about 15 years later, it was almost gone. They disappeared faster than passenger trains, which went out more gradually.

Bus depot downtown was a bustling place in the 90's. Lots of packages used to be shipped by bus too. The line of vehicles waiting to drop off shipments often backed up onto Colony.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by Luisito

Was there ever a greyhound between Winnipeg and Minneapolis?

There used to be Winnipeg to Minneapolis rail service up until 1967. Line was called the Winnipeg Flyer

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's interesting, Grey Goose and Greyhound still had a very robust rural route network in Manitoba during the early 90s, but about 15 years later, it was almost gone. They disappeared faster than passenger trains, which went out more gradually.

Think Vince Li has anything to do with it? I have no numbers but curious.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by thurmas

There used to be Winnipeg to Minneapolis rail service up until 1967. Line was called the Winnipeg Flyer

That would have been a cool trip.

[harls]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Think Vince Li has anything to do with it? I have no numbers but curious.

Probably not. Bus travel was on the down turn before his antics.

Probably didn't help.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

It was Beaver running commuter buses for years. Grey Goose used to stop there and travel as far north as Riverton. No one has been able to make a go of servicing Winnipeg to Selkirk since. Would need a provincial subsidy and maybe some Selkirk advertising to go with it. Selkirk Park would make a great summer destination for City people without cars.

In 1997, I worked for the summer in Winnipeg Beach. On a couple of weekends, I used the Grey Goose to go to Winnipeg for the weekend. The bus was at 10% of capacity at best, and this is in summer. I can only imagine how it must have been in winter.

One can tell it was losing boatloads of money even in the 90s.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by harls

Probably not. Bus travel was on the down turn before his antics.

Probably didn't help.

The Vince Li incident might have hastened the demise of bus travel but I think the writing was on the wall at that point anyway.

I know that in Saskatchewan, the government shut down the crown-owned STC bus network pretty well overnight in 2017. It was all pretty sudden.

It's interesting to see who has stepped in to fill the gap on the prairies since Greyhound/Grey Goose/STC have pulled out. There are numerous small operators with just a couple of buses providing service on key routes, and for some time Ontario Northland has been running buses into Winnipeg from Northwestern Ontario. Somehow they are making it work.

[BlackDog204]

Manitoba's Ukrainian refugees, one year later


It’s been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, almost 160,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Canada. About 12% of them now call Manitoba home, more than any other province in the country, on a per capita basis. Joanne Lewandoski, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in this province, says she’s proud of that.

source: https://winnipegsun.com/opinion/colu...one-year-later

160,000 x 12% = 19,200 Ukrainian refugees.

Quite impressive. This likely means that at least 14,000 Ukrainians have settled in Winnipeg over the past year. That would account for nearly 2% of the total city population.

[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by esquire

The Vince Li incident might have hastened the demise of bus travel but I think the writing was on the wall at that point anyway.

I know that in Saskatchewan, the government shut down the crown-owned STC bus network pretty well overnight in 2017. It was all pretty sudden.

It's interesting to see who has stepped in to fill the gap on the prairies since Greyhound/Grey Goose/STC have pulled out. There are numerous small operators with just a couple of buses providing service on key routes, and for some time Ontario Northland has been running buses into Winnipeg from Northwestern Ontario. Somehow they are making it work.

They are making it work courtesy of the Ontario taxpayer meaning it is subsidized. I am not against it but I would prefer Via's train service to be switched to the CP route through Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Dryden and Kenora and provide daily service.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by GoTrans

They are making it work courtesy of the Ontario taxpayer meaning it is subsidized. I am not against it but I would prefer Via's train service to be switched to the CP route through Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Dryden and Kenora.

Maybe in the case of ONTC, but the others?

VIA runs on the northerly CP route as it is considered a remote service. TBH I'm not sure how truly essential it is, as other than some cottages/camps and one small First Nation, pretty well everywhere has at least some level of road access.

[BlackDog204]

On July 1, 2022 the estimated population of the Winnipeg CMA was 871,778.

At the time, roughly 5,000 Ukrainian immigrants had settled in Manitoba. As of March, narly 20,000 Ukrainians have come to Manitoba. It's likely around 70% will settle in the Winnipeg CMA.

If we combine that with the fact that the last two quarters of 2022 (and most likely Q1 of 2023) have broken all time immigration records, it's conceivable Winnipeg's CMA has hit 900,000 or very close to the figure. 890,000 at the absolute lowest.

[dennis]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

Selkirk has to have 50% of its residents commuting to Winnipeg for employment. I can't see that happening anytime soon. Strange that they are not included in the St Andrews Municipality (along with Dunnottar and Winnipeg Beach).

As for any type of rapid transit line? Not going to happen.

No offence, but living in Edmonton, it makes zero sense to build the LRT from Century Park to the Airport. Edmonton is planning on expanding their LRT route to 41 Street SW, which has all been built up in the last decade. However, the Airport is 10 km from that point and considering that Leduc (15 km outside Edmonton) is the nearest large population center (35,000), it's not economically viable, as the demand for service does not even come close to the cost of 15km of track they would need to connect Edmonton to the Airport and Leduc.

Selkirk is roughly 23 km from Riverside, which is the closest subdivision in Winnipeg to the town. There is no airport, industrial area, or population base to support this. Selkirk has 10,000 people and has not really grown much in 50 years. Leduc at one point had 5,000 people in 1972. Now it will approach 40,000 before the end of the decade. If expanding an LRT makes no economic sense in the Edmonton area, it would never be built from Winnipeg to Selkirk.

Unless Winnipeg triples in size, and the metro area reaches Selkirk (which will never happen), there is no need for an LRT, or a BRT for that matter. We should be concentrating on population density at any rate.

There was an article posted recently about how Selkirk is a bright spot in Manitoba when compared to all the other smaller cities. It has a new public transit system, new higher density residential is being built. There is a new development on the west side that is very well planned and will double the population of the city when built out. I am guessing a lot of the residents will commute to Winnipeg for work, but Selkirk is finally starting to grow. It’s like the first residential development there since I could remember.

[blueandgoldguy]

I remember Viking writing about the planned high density residential area in Selkirk. I wonder when we see things start to pick up there and see a noticeable build-up of people?

It will be nice to see finally see some growth in that community as it has been stagnant for decades and suffers from the reputation as a dumpy city.