Starting April 12, BLUE will travel along the Southwest Transitway in order to bypass congestion on Pembina Highway.

Southwest Transit Network as of April 12, 2020.

BLUE is a new rapid transit line that will provide frequent, reliable, high-speed service between Downtown, the University of Manitoba and St. Norbert.

With the debut of BLUE, some current routes in Southwest Winnipeg are being replaced with new ones, while other routes are being changed.

Passengers will be able to catch the BLUE rapid transit line at Southwest Transitway stations, as well as at stops along Graham Avenue and Main Street downtown, and Pembina Highway south of Markham Road.

You can use lists at the Winnipeg Transit BLUE webpage to explore maps of the new routes and updated routes, and see how frequently they will run.

When planning your route on Navigo, ensure that you are entering a date after April 12 to ensure you access the updated information.

BLUE line – the new Southwest Rapid Transit line: Click to enlarge image

With the new BLUE line, feeder routes — the shorter routes that take passengers from local communities to Southwest Transitway stations and major stops on Pembina Highway — are less likely to be delayed since they avoid areas of the city with congestion, like Downtown. Feeder routes in Southwest Winnipeg are three digits long, and start with a “6.”

Signage will go up at affected bus stops in the weeks leading up to the change, so people know what routes will operate in their community after April 12.

All changes come into effect on April 12, 2020. See Winnipeg Transit BLUE webpage for maps and routes details, and use Navigo to plan your routes.

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.

Reminder: The current Maclean Transit stops will be relocated to University Crescent for September 2-3 to accommodate student residence move-in over the weekend. For a full look at transit re-routes, view the PDF here.

UPDATE: AUG. 23

Winnipeg Transit has set up temporary stops to accommodate riders during the reconstruction of the University Cresent / Chancellor Matheson and Dafoe / Music Building bus stops.

• One stop has been located on Dafoe in front of the former Faculty of Music building at 65 Dafoe Rd. (now the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning), east of existing stop.
  • The path around the original stop is not accessible. Please note you will need to use the Dafoe crosswalks for accessibility.
• Another stop has been located on Dafoe at the University Crescent intersection on the south side of Active Living Centre.

The current schedule indicates the bus stops at these two locations will be complete roughly mid September. To be confirmed as the University is provided with more information.

Click here for a map of temporary bus stops during construction.

AUG. 16

Construction by the City of Winnipeg and Winnipeg Transit continues on the portion of the Southwest Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that runs through the Fort Garry Campus.

The university has been informed that transit shelters have been demolished at University Crescent and Chancellor Matheson by Frank Kennedy, and at Dafoe by the former Music Building (now the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning) – and both bus stops have been removed by Winnipeg Transit. 

Currently and until August 19, these bus stops have been relocated to University Crescent south of Dafoe  (during Canada Summer Games and decommissioning).

This re-route moves back to Maclean on August 20. The University is confirming with Transit whether other stops will be provided.

For information about the Maclean re-routing, see our previous story about the BRT: http://news.umanitoba.ca/construction-notice-watermain-upgrade-dafoe-rd-and-bus-rapid-transit/

Click on map below to enlarge.

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