About
Mission
TRU Winnipeg was created as a Transit Riders’ Union—a group of advocates working to improve the lives of transit users in Winnipeg.
As TRU Winnipeggers we aim to promote urbanism and the resurrection of the inner city though the following means:
- building the Norman D. Wilson subway
- encouraging mixed-use (residential dwellings above storefronts) development to replace parking lots and strip malls downtown and in the inner city
- providing information and support for those pondering a switch to an urban lifestyle
- encouraging all of the above to make Winnipeg’s city centre reclaim its role as the main destination for shopping, living, work, and entertainment
Winnipeg’s Subway
History of Winnipeg’s Subway
In 1959, when renowned civil engineer Norman D. Wilson was asked to examine Winnipeg’s long-term transportation options, his report recommended building a subway.
A subway? you say. We can’t afford it; Winnipeg’s too small! Norman D. Wilson didn’t think so, and neither did the editors of the Winnipeg Tribune. Because of our winters, and our rivers, the subway seemed a perfect fit–a warm, indoor ride with six new high-capacity river crossings.
Wilson admitted the expense would be gigantic–up to $500 Million 1959 dollars–but prophesied that if we failed to build, Winnipeg would suffer. Parking lots would become more valuable than buildings, giving land owners incentive to demolish. Cars would take over our downtown.
“In fact if a metropolitan city were to be wholly or even largely dependent on the private automobile for transportation, so much space would be taken up in roadways and so little left for business purposes, as to destroy the value of the district for the business uses that attracted the traffic in the first place.”
–Norman D. Wilson
So close
Metro Winnipeg Transit Commission chairman Jack Blumberg was backing it. Legendary Transcona Metro Councillor Bernie Wolfe was also. Metro planning director Earl Levin too. The system was so close to being built that in 1968 the Winnipeg Area Transportation Study surveyed the ground for the subway’s construction.
Winnipeg today
History has proved Wilson right. Steadily since the 1955 loss of our streetcar system, downtown Winnipeg lost its status as a shopping and entertainment district–the landscape is dominated by office buildings and surface-level parking lots. Thugs, beggars, and substance-abusing derelicts dominate our devalued streets. Once-mighty Main Street is a shambles–between the run-down hotels and emergency shelters lie vacant buildings and empty lots. Low land values have for too long made impossible the infill development that would make our inner city successful, bustling, and attractive to suburbanites and tourists seeking the cultural novelty of busy, diverse street life.
Rise of the suburb and the decline of urban life
Busy streets are safe streets. Winnipeg’s aged buildings and multi-ethnic population have given us diverse urban streets as Selkirk, Sargent, and Ellice avenues, but they are neither busy nor especially safe. A lack of mixed-use buildings, and the periodic presence of such parking-lot architecture as gas stations and strip malls, disrupts the continuity of a sidewalk storefront district, leaving the streets desolate and dangerous at night.
Successful city districts are comprised of mixed-use buildings–sidewalk-level stores with up to 6 storeys of apartments above. People living on such streets keep the neighbourhood busy and safe–by putting feet on the sidewalk. But since those living above a busy street are prone to watching it, there are also more eyes on the sidewalk, making it safer still.
Although all inner-city infill construction during recent years has been single-use, it seems this year–with the Waterfront project and a new mixed-use building on River Avenue–the city is finally catcing on.
Subway vs. other forms of Rapid Transit
As an alternative to light rail, Bus Rapid Transit or BRT has touted as an ideal fit for Winnipeg. Unfortunately, if our aim is to increase transit ridership while revitalizing the downtown, BRT can’t do the job.
A full-scale BRT system may cost over $1Billion. It will depend on diesel fuel. It will be vulnerable to the elements. It will create barriers to pedestrian and vehicle movement. Most importantly, it will not attract substantial new ridership nor will it significantly boost land values adjacent to stations. In the urban planning community, guided bus “rapid transit” systems are considered a joke–but the negative ridership growth they foster is no laughing matter.
Wilson’s subway, on the other hand, would cost more than twice as much–$4 Billion. But from it we would get so much more:
- protection from extreme snow and rainfall
- a city-wide network of indoor access to popular destinations: UofW, MTS Centre, Health Sciences Centre
- six new high-capacity river crossings
- zero disruption to existing surface traffic
- a significant boost to land values near stations
- a true alternative to vehicle ownership, not just vehicle use
- quality infrastructure that will last for centuries
The resulting increase in inner-city land values alone would be worth the costs of subway construction. Suddenly land values downtown and in the inner city would be the highest in the region, and mixed-use infill development would become a very profitable undertaking. Winnipeg’s inner city would become a top Canadian tourist destination–a busy, diverse, safe set of streets.
Without the subway, there’s simply no hope for seeing Main St. and other severely troubled parts of the inner city come alive in our lifetimes. A BRT system might get us around while saving us half the money, but it would have none of the neighbourhood-rejuvenating effects of a subway.