Councillor wants more buses on busiest routes

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This article was published 20/06/2017 (2498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Public works chairman Coun. Marty Morantz wants Winnipeg Transit to consider providing more frequent bus service where it’s needed, rather than serve far-flung suburbs with low ridership.

Morantz moved a motion at council Wednesday calling for Transit to consider more frequent service on routes with high ridership as part of its long-term strategic plan.

He later told reporters that it’s his job to ask Transit to consider how it operates its routes, explaining that the point of his motion was to ensure high-frequency ridership is examined in the course of future strategic planning.

“We should always be looking forward and trying to do better,” he said.

Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said activist Jarrett Walker — a guest speaker at a forum hosted by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 in May — sparked his interest in the subject.

Morantz said he accepted Walker’s “quite compelling” argument that ridership increases when the service improves, adding creating high-frequency routes is one way to achieve that goal.

The proposal from Morantz drew support from Coun. Jeff Browaty, who said Transit in the past has been pressured to provide service to suburbs where ridership is low at the expense of busier routes in older parts of the city.

“I do believe there would be a fair bit of interest,” Browaty told reporters.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca