Enhanced Transit services arrive at Fort Garry campus

New shelters and enhanced Transit services have arrived at the Fort Garry campus after much consultation, construction and collaborative planning and design work. The University worked with Winnipeg Transit to accommodate more riders with enhanced and relocated services on Dafoe, and at the new University of Manitoba Station near the Tier Building and the Quad.

The new Station and stops have been in place since December 17, and work to add heat to the shelters has now been completed. Some minor operational components are still being resolved; other items including a pedestrian railing at the U of M Station will be installed by mid-April and seasonal landscape work will be completed in the spring.

Working to meet Transit’s operational requirements, the University provided input on station designs, stop locations and pedestrian crosswalks, to align with the planning and design principles in the Visionary (re)Generation Master Plan, created with with extensive input over several years from a broad range of stakeholders from the University and wider community. This included preserving the green, treed character of the Quad, and maintaining as much as possible the character of Dafoe Road as a vibrant and walkable campus street. See more on the upgrades here: http://news.umanitoba.ca/bus-rapid-transit-upgrades-coming/

The spacing of the stops within the Station area is intended to allow enough room for articulated buses, or for up to three buses to stack, at each stop. The University is reviewing pedestrian and vehicular traffic on Dafoe Road, and an assessment of crosswalks is ongoing. Vehicles and pedestrians should take caution in this busy area and observe marked crosswalks.

This construction was part of the early work for Winnipeg’s Southwest Transitway project, a high-speed corridor for buses that will run from downtown to Southwest Winnipeg. Stage 1 of the Southwest Transitway opened in 2012 and runs from Queen Elizabeth Way & Stradbrook to Pembina & Jubilee. Stage two of the Southwest Transitway, from downtown to the neighbourhoods of Southwest Winnipeg including the University of Manitoba, is anticipated for full completion in late 2019, with operation expected to begin in April 2020.

Read more about Winnipeg Transit’s public engagement process in this report.

For up-to-date transit changes, visit http://winnipegtransit.com/

If you have questions, contact Winnipeg Transit by calling 311 or emailing 311@winnipeg.ca

Visit our new University of Manitoba resource at umanitoba.ca/transportation to access information on busing, biking, walking and carpooling to campus, as well as where to park on campus.