Wronging a Right

by Laurie Nealin 

Winnipeg Transit and the city are about to wrong a right. 

In complete contradiction to the thinking behind opening Portage and Main to pedestrians and making Graham Ave. a no-bus zone, we have the confounding Winnipeg Transit decision to run buses the entire length of Waterfront Drive – a residential, pedestrian and AT-friendly street, or so it is outside of morning and afternoon rush hours.

Many residents expressed concerns to our Councillor Santos and Transit via 311 when we first heard about this new Route #31 last month. [Route details | Winnipeg Transit]

Previously, no regular bus route included travel on Waterfront because it wasn’t designed or intended for that. Rather, it was conceived as a scenic, meandering drive akin to the road through Assiniboine Park. Even the daytime Spirit Bus traveled only a minimal distance on Waterfront.

Instead, Route #31 will pass within metres of the front doors/the bedrooms/balconies of seven multi-family residences – YouCube, H2O, The Bend, Sky Waterfront, The Strand, Excelsior and Ship Street -- plus the Mere Hotel -- without any consultation with or consideration of the impact on residents and businesses. The buses will pass every 10 to 20 minutes, 18 hours a day from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight, undoubtedly disturbing residents’ sleep in early morning and later at night.

Surely, there are better options.

Transit suggests (albeit incorrectly) that Route #31 helps to replace the Spirit Bus and will be popular for folks from North Main and Point Douglas wanting to go to The Forks. That could be accomplished by routing the buses along Lily and Rorie instead, bypassing the central residential and pedestrian-heavy blocks of Waterfront Drive. On Lily and Rorie, the bus would not pass the front doors of any residential buildings but still be within one block of Waterfront Drive and Main Street, as well.

This solution – Galt, Lily, Rorie, Lombard (and the reverse going north) -- wouldn’t keep buses away from H2O or YouCube, unfortunately, but it would provide direct access to Sport for Life facilities, Oseredok Museum, Tom Hendry Warehouse, Manitoba Museum, Concert Hall, RMTC, the Fairmont and Portage and Main. 

As our Councillor Santos knows very well, there is already an unhealthy amount of rush-hour traffic on Waterfront. Traffic routinely backs up when delivery vans, garbage trucks and school buses stop on Waterfront to offload. As we know, commuters can be very impatient, horn-honking drivers who will pass vehicles on our two-lane street if they are sufficiently annoyed. Add into that mix stopped Transit buses and fire trucks that appear daily to respond to emergencies, and it’s a recipe for disaster. 

Will the fire trucks be passing the buses to get to their destination and vice versa? Will there be head-on collisions on Waterfront as annoyed commuter drivers pull out to pass the buses stopped in the single traffic lane? Will pedestrians, cyclists and bus riders be collateral damage?

Waterfront Drive was painstakingly designed by landscape architects to be a pedestrian-oriented, active transportation area that complements and integrates with adjacent parkland – Stephen Juba Park and Fort Douglas Park.   The street was not intended for commuter traffic and buses, nor was the infrastructure built for it. Waterfront Drive paving stone streetscaping, especially in the roundabouts and at intersections, will not stand up to the frequent bus traffic. Sadly, commuter traffic has already taken a toll. 

It does appear that Transit officials don’t understand the dynamic of this street, of our neighbourhood or how it functions. That’s because none of them live here – as far as we know -- and it seems they didn’t consult those of us who do. 

If you also have concerns about this new Route -- or the amount of commuter traffic on Waterfront Drive -- you, too, can speak out. Our councillor asks that you email her vsantos@winnipeg.ca and contact 311@winnipeg.ca to make your voice heard.