Despite efforts to inform students of the change, a number of students have been saying that they’ve been waiting for buses at the wrong location primarily due to poor signage at the bus stops.
Kailey Protulipac, a third-year arts student, said, “It didn’t say anywhere in big letters that there’s changes [ . . .].”
Protulipac said that after realizing she must go to McLean Crescent to catch her bus, she was originally unsure where that street was located, but followed the general flow of people to find it.
She says that if she had not been bussing at peak transit hours, she may have missed her bus.
Protulipac said, “I heard that it was on the website afterwards and the transit websites, but I don’t check those on a regular basis.”
John Danakas, public affairs director at the University of Manitoba, said, “Detailed information has been the main feature of the University of Manitoba homepage [ . . . ] since Jan. 2, almost unprecedented in terms of the number of days the home page main slot was dedicated to this, and well before students returned.”
Ashley Gillanders, a third-year fine arts student said, “I don’t normally frequent the University’s website, but by chance happened to that day. There was a short article on the main page which I read. Had I not seen and read the information, I would not have been aware of the change.”
Other commuters who were not U of M students also indicated that there was not enough notification about the change.
Stephen McKenzie, a daily transit rider said, “I commute to work every day and one of the places where I can transfer is at the U of M.”
McKenzie continued, “I got off my first bus and waited at the stop for my second bus for roughly 15 minutes before seeing it drive off without me from a side street, and later realized that there was a tiny little sign posted underneath all the transit schedules indicating [ . . . ] change in regular service.”
“From there I went and waited at that bus stop which has no shelter whatsoever [and] I had to wait longer.” Since then, two temporary shelters are now located at the bus stops.
McKenzie says that the original shelter he waited in was full and no one had seen the signs about the changes.
Morley Calahan, a Winnipeg Transit representative told the Manitoban, “It is traffic practice to have information signage at the bus stop if it has been moved or there are any changes to the location. Generally, notice boards are installed.”
He continued, “It’s on our transit website and [ . . . ] anyone who goes to Winnipegtransit.com can get all the information they need concerning this detour.”
Some students feel its their own responsibility to make sure that they are aware of transit changes that occur.
Will Burton, a pre-masters history student, read about the change online and made adjustments to his schedule in the morning, but after seeing buses lined up on Dafoe in the evening, assumed they would now be arriving at their usual location.
After waiting for 25 minutes, a bus driver asked what bus he was waiting for and explained to Burton where he should be.
Burton says, “It’s up to students like me that take the bus to take notice of articles they post of changes, and ultimately our fault if we don’t and end up getting penalized for not doing so.”
However, McKenzie says there should be “more prominent signage [as well as] signage leading up to schedule changes, not just when it changes.”
A temporary shelter has been set up on McLean Crescent, where buses, 60, 61, 36, 75 and 76 have been redirected. All other bus routes remain unaffected.
Calahan says that detours may be, in effect, subject to construction schedule, and that anyone who has any customer related concerns can call 311 and they will send someone out to examine the location if any signage is missing.
