Winnipeg

I know the new transit system gets a really bad rap, but I'm actually pretty sympathetic to it. I think the main issue is the lack of funding, not the actual system design itself.

The way I've heard it describe was that, with the old system, we kind of maxed it out already. Due to the twisty-turny nature of the routes, and certain predictable choke points that clogged up traffic (such as Graham Avenue), there wasn't really a whole lot we could do to improve it. Sure we could have added more buses, but the main issues with the system (namely, the large delays and unpredictable schedules) were not the sort of issues that we could have fixed through more funding. Because the primary cause of those issues were inefficiencies in the actual bus routes themselves.

The new system, in contrast, is far from prefect. But it is the kind of system we can fix with more funding; the primary issue is no longer inefficiencies in the bus routes themselves, but lack of funding. For example, one of the main issue right now is all the transfers. There's a lot of transfers in the new bus system, and it sucks. But it only really sucks because buses don't come very often. If buses came every more regularly, transfers would be less of a problem. And we could make it so buses come more often, if we bought more of them. And, with the new system, these new buses wouldn't get held up trying to do unnecessary left turns or stuck in bus traffic jams on Graham Avenue. These new buses would just go on their dandy way relatively unimpeded and actually increase frequency and reliability.

So, though the bus system still sucks, the new system is the sort of system we could fix with funding. Whereas the old system was not. So, though I think the push to revert back to the old system is the wrong way to go. Instead we should channel that energy on getting our city council to stop wasting money on widening Kenaston and extending Chief Peguis, and put that money towards a functional transit system instead.