The proposed changes coming to Winnipeg Transit in south Winnipeg

How the BRT line will speed up commutes The Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor is set to open in April. Jeff Keele finds out how the city says it will cut down on wait times.

WINNIPEG -- The City of Winnipeg is promising to speed up bus commutes once the South West Rapid Transit corridor from Jubilee Avenue to the University of Manitoba opens in April.

A new report says a “Spine and Feeder” system will be put in place, where the BRT corridor acts as a spine and is fed by neighbourhood routes.

A new “BLUE Line” will power the spine, running north and south from downtown to the U of M, along the rapid transit corridor and on south Pembina Highway to St. Norbert.

“The ‘feeder routes’ from the various neighbourhoods in southwest Winnipeg feed into the BLUE Line and Pembina Highway at stations or major stops. Passengers will catch their neighbourhood feeder bus, take it to a BLUE Line station and from there transfer to a BLUE Line bus, instead of waiting for one specific bus,” explained the City of Winnipeg in a news release.

The report says travel time on the corridor will improve by eight to ten minutes in ideal conditions.

Read the full report below.

It’s promising an average wait of two to three minutes for transfers from feeder routes to the BLUE Line and five to eight minutes for transfers from the BLUE Line to feeder routes.

In order to pull this off, the report says the city will need to spend an extra $3.5 million annually for added resources, including:

It also says 28 articulated buses were purchased for the opening, and at peak times they will be used for the BLUE Line exclusively.

The city’s public works committee will consider the plan next week.

If approved a number of new routes will be created, changed or cancelled:

Created:

Changed:

Cancelled:

Read the full report: