Amid rising safety concerns, a massive fare increase and languishing service, FTW is reminding candidates to prioritize transit
MEDIA RELEASE
August 27, 2018
WINNIPEG, MB – As Winnipeg gears up for its next civic election on October 24 Functional Transit Winnipeg is launching a campaign to ensure transit is a top priority this election.
Following a year that included a massive fare increase and attempts by council to cut service, Functional Transit Winnipeg will be urging candidates to focus on three specific areas for transit:
- Increased funding for operating costs – Winnipeg’s contribution to transit is significantly less than other cities of similar population in Canada, which have much better systems and usage rates.
- Implement a frequent service network – many of the problems that people experience with using transit are due to inefficient scheduling, which can be addressed by interconnecting routes which operate at a minimum frequency of every 10 minutes.
- Commitment to improving safety for both drivers and passengers including the exploration of best practices in other cities and ongoing dialogue across stakeholder groups to ensure continuous improvement.
“While there are many different areas for potential improvement of transit services in Winnipeg, these three specific topics would start to get at the lion’s share of the needed improvements,” said Joe Kornelsen, FTW President. “More funding directed to operating costs would begin to tackle safety challenges with transit and create flexibility for the planning and system changes necessary to really kick-start a transportation system that will take us into the next 40 years and beyond.”
Throughout the campaign we will be participating in town halls and debates, engaging the public through our social media presence, and asking people concerned about transit to use our communication tools to share their ideas with candidates.
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Functional Transit Winnipeg is a group of Winnipeggers interested in improving public transit in our city. Visit us at www.functionaltransit.com