Starting next month, Winnipeg transit users will start to see changes being implemented to make riding the bus safer and — eventually — more convenient.
The head of Winnipeg Transit’s community safety team, Bob Chrismas, says by mid-to-late February, safety officers will be present on some city bus routes.
“There will be a big presence. We’ll be hitting the streets,” Chrismas told Global Winnipeg.
“You’ll see the whole team. They’re going to be dressed in highly visible uniforms marked with ‘safety officer’ on the sides — yellow and navy with reflective striping and shoulder flashes, so it’ll be clearly visible.”
Chrismas said the team currently consists of 21 officers and two supervisors, and while they’ll be targeting problem areas, the officers won’t necessarily be assigned to specific routes, but rather in and around the transit system overall — helping to create a better sense of safety around riding the bus as well as around shelters.
The officers, while they will be sworn peace officers with the ability to detain people in case of a crime in progress, aren’t exactly police, he said.
“I think a majority of things they’re going to be dealing with are going to be more intervention … people sleeping on the bus, people causing a disturbance, not necessarily crime.
“And then the goal is to make them a point of contact, to bring in other resources to hopefully not just focus on enforcement, but also to bring social resources around people.”
Chrismas said he realizes the team is small — especially when there are hundreds of buses on city streets at any given time — but he’s hopeful the program will show positive results for city administrators to build on in future.
“I feel just their presence alone is going to have a big effect, but it’s going to take time.”
The introduction of the safety officers is welcome news to Chris Scott, Amalgamated Transit Union president, whose members have been calling for safety measures for some time.
“We’re very happy that it’s finally being implemented. I know that was a big commitment of the mayor, and he’s stuck to it to see it getting implemented and implemented properly,” Scott said.
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“Obviously we would have liked it have seen it implemented sooner, but we want it done right so we can have a safe transit system.
“Without the riders feeling safe and coming back to the bus, we don’t have a service.”
Scott said after a new contract with the city was agreed upon, the labour situation for Winnipeg bus operators is stable, and a strike was narrowly avoided.
“It was really touch and go,” he said. “We actually set a strike deadline during this round of bargaining — the first time that’s happened since the 1976 picket — but we secured a lot with regards to wages, improved starting wages for new hires, and addressing a lot of the concerns with regards to the operations of the department.”
In addition to the safety improvements, the city is working on what Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverly West) calls “fundamentally huge changes” to its bus routes, aimed at 2025.
“All the transit routes will be changing. We are going to what’s called a high-frequency model, and we will be working with residents, starting with discussions in February of this year over the next six to eight months,” Lukes told Global Winnipeg.
“Transit is planning new routes to offer higher frequency … more buses more often. This is what we have in southwest Winnipeg on the Blue Line. We did the switchover right before the pandemic…. It’s been extremely successful, I think more successful than people anticipated, and this is what we’ll be doing with the rest of the city on June 30, I believe, next year.”
Lukes said many of the current transit routes have been in place for decades, and as the city has grown substantially since, changes are long overdue.
“There will be a transfer system, which people — depending where they have to go — will have to transfer, but it’s being designed so that buses are more frequent and that, I think, is one of the big reasons that will encourage people to take the bus.
“We’ve got a lot of positive things happening, and we’re at the cusp of seeing things unfold.”
Mayor Scott Gillingham said improving the transit experience throughout Winnipeg has been a goal of his since taking office in fall 2022.
“Our commitment as a city is really to transform — citywide — transform our transit network so that transit is more reliable and more frequent for all riders, which would alleviate some of the pressure for overcrowded buses,” Gillingham told Global Winnipeg.
“There are moments when it is crowded, and that’s a good sign because that shows people are relying on transit. For a lot of Winnipeggers, transit really is their only means of transportation, so we are prioritizing transit in this upcoming budget…. Even though it is a very difficult budget, we’re not backing down from providing this service for the people of Winnipeg.”
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