Transit Plus needs more staff, nearly $1M in new funding to meet recommendations: City of Winnipeg report

The City of Winnipeg needs to hire seven more full-time staff and spend nearly a million dollars to improve its Transit Plus service, says a report scheduled to be presented to the city's infrastructure and public works committee.

Those changes would help satisfy the recommendations of an investigation by Manitoba's ombudsman into the city's accessible transit service, according to the new city administration report.

The ombudsman's report raised concerns about who is eligible to use the service, the number of vehicles available to pick up passengers — especially in the winter months — and how the city responds to complaints about the service for Winnipeggers with disabilities, formerly known as Handi-Transit.

The latest city report comes nearly a year after the ombudsman's report was made public, and almost four years after the Independent Living Resource Centre filed a complaint about the service, triggering the provincial ombudsman's review.

"We don't want to be constantly dumping on the city and Transit Plus. We really want to be working with them. But yes, it is frustrating," said Patrick Stewart, a consultant with the ILRC.

The report, which will be tabled at the committee's meeting next week, says the city has completed five of the 19 recommendations made in the ombudsman's report.

"That's not really a fantastic batting average," Stewart told CBC News, adding it's disappointing "to be here a year later saying maybe we should have a conversation about the resources required."

Stewart says there has been a problem of "blunting or downplaying the problems that exist" with the service, and the city appears to spend more time looking for ways to reduce, rather than expand, transit services for residents with disabilities.

Some of the recommendations the city has completed include requiring Transit Plus drivers to wear high-visibility vests, and verifying Transit Plus vehicles have GPS and vehicle-location equipment.

City reviewing Transit Plus policies

The city is still working on a review of the eligibility criteria for who can use the service. That issue will be part of a Winnipeg Transit master plan — a major review expected in early 2020.

As well, a review of the Transit Plus policy on no-shows (where clients cancel or aren't present at the pickup location) is also expected in the master plan.

Another recommendation from the ombudsman said the city should abolish a rule that limits Transit Plus drop-offs to areas within 500 metres of a conventional bus stop, and instead expand the service to all areas within city limits, or within one kilometre of a conventional bus stop.

The City of Winnipeg's public service is recommending the public works committee order a separate report to change the policy and find the funding to pay for it.

The city is also still working on reducing the number of "unables" — where a request for service cannot be accommodated because of the availability of vehicles.

Projections in the report say there could be multiple days this winter with as many as 200 unables.

The report calls for the city to hire seven full-time employees, and one part-time employee, including three new inspectors to monitor service and investigate complaints. The cost in the first year would be $983,149. 

"They only had one inspector to oversee the entire system. To make sure basic safety rules were being followed — stuff like that. That kind of shocked us," Stewart said.

Stewart worries Transit Plus users are "only seeing the tip of the iceberg"  when it comes to the service's shortcomings.

'Challenging fiscal environment'

He says the report also proposes changing the dates under which 250 "winter-only" users can access Transit Plus.

Currently those registrants, who have difficulty manoeuvring over ice and snow, can access the service between Oct. 15 and April 15.

The city's proposal would allow the "winter-only" period to begin as late as Dec. 15, and end on March 31, at the discretion of the department's manager of client services.

Stewart says giving that authority to a manager, who may be focused on cost savings, "seems like a recipe for disaster."

"Giving that manager unilateral authority to say 'this is when winter is happening, and this is when it is not happening' is a means of reducing expenditures and a way of conserving resources."

Coun. Matt Allard, who chairs the committee that oversees Transit Plus, said in an emailed statement that he would do "everything in my power to avoid cuts to transit service."

The St. Boniface councillor stopped short of committing to finding the extra funding. He pointed to the financial burdens facing the city, which is currently putting together a multi-year budget, and blamed the Progressive Conservative provincial government for the current situation.

"We are in a very challenging fiscal environment. The provincial cuts to transit funding have left a huge gap between available funds and demands for service," Allard wrote.

He said the request for the funding "presents more challenges, but it's also an important part of our service that deserves attention and investment," and should be referred to the city's ongoing budget deliberations.