TRUWinnipeg.org

In response to today’s announcement that the $138 Million Southern and SouthEast Freeways Southwest Transit Corridor will be built by about 2011/2012, I have this to say.

There are several questions.

Why build BRT and LRT later when Katz himself, in a meeting with TRUWinnipeg last Friday admitted that railway tracks are cheap to buy?

Katz says that doing this project now will “lay the groundwork foundation” for LRT in the future. But when will this occur? What measures will be in place from Day One where we can say that when such and such a thing happens (population, ridership, etc…) that the move to LRT will occur at that point? When Ottawa opened the LRT in 1983 they too said it could be converted to an LRT in the future. Well, they’re still waiting, 25 years later. The Ottawa Transitway has failed BIG TIME, and now the City of Ottawa is looking to convert the whole thing into an LRT, including running the downtown section (Albert & Slater Streets) underground, at a cost of $1 billion.

At which station will the 66 Grant terminate? As it is now, the two branches of the 66 Grant travel from Polo Park and St. Charles. If this route terminates at Windermere instead of Jubilee won’t that make the 66 Grant less effective at moving people quickly?

Illustration courtesy of City of Winnipeg

Take a look at the “Potential Jubilee Station” on the map above. It is not located conveniently from Pembina @ Stafford. Stupid move by the City to let Shindleman build commercial property there because it will be difficult (read costly) now to construct roadway access to this particular station. Better to put one underground at Pembina @ Stafford instead, which will be much less disruptive and still allow Shindleman’s buildings to remain.

The above is why building an underground rapid transit solution and locating a station at the corner of Pembina @ Stafford would be a much better option. It would allow the suburban office buildings, and new, not yet built condos. to go at that corner, creating a transit node and making it a really cool destination.

Why will it take upwards of three years to build a 3.5 kilometre diesel-powered busway, when it would take just as long to build an hydro-electric powered underground subway (with catenary or third rail, rail signalling and switching equipment, fare collection equipment, etc…) that’ll stretch from downtown Winnipeg to the University of Manitoba? After all, the busway is really just a highway.

We do not trust the promise made by Katz for “LRT in the future” because in the past the City has not been trustworthy when it comes to long-term city planning. Just recall how well Plan Winnipeg has made out in the past 27 years — there’s more suburban sprawl than ever before and our downtown is in worse shape. Councillors will tell you that Plan Winnipeg is “just a guideline”. So how can we trust Katz and Winnipeg Transit to put in rail-based solution when they can’t even get regular city planning right?

Who in their right mind will want to walk to and from Osborne Station in the middle of the Winter when the wind chill is -50 Celsius? For rapid transit in Winnipeg to be done right, it must be mainly underground and close to current transit service island at Confusion Corner. An underground station would be a couple of steps away, rather than a major trek in the cold, bitter winds of Winter.

Just as with Ottawa’s Transitway, when BRT buses reach the downtown area, like around the Univ. of Winnipeg, they will be caught in regular traffic congestion as is the case now. No real improvement. And looking at the numbers of people working in the area as Manitoba Hydro has relocated downtown, the employees will not really have a good enough transit system to get between ther home and work. And because of BRT being ineffective, will yet another downtown building be demolished for more parking?

The “progressive” cycling community likes to emphasize the included bike path alongside the busway. However, once it is converted to rail-based rapid transit in some hazy future date, will the bike path remain, and if it doesn’t, will this upset the cyclists? Will it somehow prevent it from ever becoming a rail-based rapid transit line?

So the Southwest Transit Corridor is more for the convenience of automobile traffic who one day will be able to use it as a freeway when Winnipeg decides it’s grown up enough to convert to a subway line.