The city authorities recognize the growth of our city`s needs, the population grows every year and the workforce visiting Winnipeg constantly increases as well. Public transportation is a very important part of city infrastructure modernization and development.
Bowman said that the city council should be prepared to take political risks to shake things up for the better, and that, although he calls 2019 the “year of transit,” the council will have to go beyond the current authority.
In November of 2018, a report said the plan was to offer bus passes for 30 percent off the regular price during the first year of the program, then further reduce the cost of the passes for low-income residents to 50 percent off.
This week, Winnipeg Transit provided an update on the program to the city’s infrastructure and public works committee. It’s still unclear who would qualify to pay the reduced price for a bus pass.
The local transit union and other organizations have been pushing for since the February 2017 murder of a driver. In addition to putting surveillance cameras inside buses, the city is also working on installing cameras on the side of all buses so drivers can see who is getting on and off the vehicles.
The city’s Executive Policy Committee has voted to install bus driver safety shields in Winnipeg Transit buses in the next year. The cost to purchase shields for all Winnipeg buses is estimated at $3.15 million.
Bowman said he and his counterparts from more than 20 cities across the country are asking for concrete investment in public transit. All levels of government need to work collaboratively on the issue, he said, but the dialogue with the feds is going well so far.
Winnipeg bus drivers safety means a lot for city`s transportation inspectors. This is a huge plan, with a pretty high bill that the city of Winnipeg will have to pay to protect the drivers and make transit transportation safer for everyone else too. The public transportation system is a very important part of Winnipeg`s daily life, because of thousands of people use it every day to commute to work and back home, they rely on the system and people need to be able to catch that bus on time and make to work or home to their families.