ManitobaWinnipeg Transit plans to extend its on-request bus service later into the night as a first step toward addressing complaints from riders, including shift workers, that routes on the city’s new network ended too early.On-request buses will run until 2 a.m. in most on-request zones starting Dec. 14 if council OKs planCameron MacLean · CBC News · Posted: Oct 07, 2025 7:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoCurrently, Winnipeg Transit’s on-demand service — which covers areas where ridership is too low to support a fixed route — shuts down around 10:15 p.m. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)Winnipeg Transit plans to extend its on-request bus service later into the night as a first step toward addressing complaints from riders, including shift workers, who said routes on the city’s new network ended too early.If city council approves the plan, on-request buses will operate until 2 a.m. in 10 of Transit’s 12 on-request zones, starting Dec. 14.Currently, the service — which covers areas where ridership is too low to support a fixed route — shuts down around 10:15 p.m., leaving many late-night workers with no bus home.The redesigned network, which launched in June, improved frequency on major routes, but cut evening hours and forced passengers in many neighbourhoods to rely on transfers or on-request buses.”We heard loud and clear that we need to have the late hours, because people are working shift work,” said public works committee chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West).”Extending on-request hours was the quickest, fastest way to deliver that, while we work on longer-term changes.”Bjorn Radstrom, Winnipeg Transit’s manager of service development, said on-request service is cheaper and more flexible than fixed-route buses, since vehicles only operate when trips are booked. WATCH | Transit wants to extend on-demand service until 2 a.m.: Winnipeg Transit’s on-request service to run later at nightThe City of Winnipeg plans to extend its on-request bus service late into the evening, in response to complaints the service ends too early.”We can cover a bigger area with one or two vehicles as opposed to, if it was fixed routes, we might need half a dozen vehicles or something like that,” Radstrom said.About 15 more operators will be needed to staff the later on-request hours. The change would cost the city $562,000 to run until mid-April. More money would need to be approved in the 2026 budget to continue the service. In response to rider complaints, Transit made some tweaks to its new routes last month, and Mayor Scott Gillingham has said there’s a chance more changes could be implemented before the end of 2025.”This is the smaller piece,” Radstrom said. “The bigger and more expensive changes are still to come.”Gillingham and other council members have said they wanted to see service extended later. In November, council is expected to see a report proposing more late-night fixed-route service beginning in April.Lukes said the price tag could reach another $1 million or more in annual spending.Radstrom says the on-demand service gets around 3,000 requests per week. Median wait times during the month of September were just under 13 minutes, Transit spokesperson Megan Benedictson wrote in an email.Transit warns against using AI to plan tripsTransit officials are also warning riders not to use artificial intelligence apps like ChatGPT to plan their bus trips.Radstrom says some people, particularly students, use the apps, but they can produce wildly inaccurate directions — something he discovered when he tried them for himself.”It was terrible — a disaster,” he said.”It’s giving completely wrong information. It was telling you to take routes that haven’t existed for years. It was telling you to take routes that have never existed, or telling everybody to crowd onto the Blue Line. These AI engines are not designed for this type of trip planning.”Radstrom worries that misinformation may be adding to overcrowding on the Blue Line — the rapid transit line that runs between Unicity and southwest Winnipeg, and which already sees more pass-ups than any other corridor.Transit plans to warn schools and post public messages urging riders to stick to official sources like the city’s Navigo trip planner or the Winnipeg Transit app.ABOUT THE AUTHORCameron MacLean is a journalist for CBC Manitoba living in Winnipeg, where he was born and raised. He has more than a decade of experience reporting in the city and across Manitoba, covering a wide range of topics, including courts, politics, housing, arts, health and breaking news. Email story tips to cameron.maclean@cbc.ca.
Winnipeg Transit plans to extend on-request service after complaints about late night routes
