Transit Priority Seating Review

More information on transit priority seating available on our Accessible Transit webpage. 

Introduction

The City of Winnipeg is committed to improving the accessibility of our transit system. One aspect of this involved establishing designated priority seating areas on conventional buses.

To better understand the needs of transit users and develop processes that recognize the needs of transit users with disabilities, the City asked for feedback through a survey and discussion forum. Your feedback, along with a jurisdictional scan and Winnipeg Transit data were used to make recommendations for the future of priority space on Transit buses and a Council approved Priority and Courtesy Seating Area Policy.

Background

On May 19, 2020, the Standing Policy Committee on Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works asked the public service to review the issues of accessibility for Transit customers related to policies for strollers, priority and courtesy seating and operator assistance.

This review builds on the February 2019 discussion paper outlining the Accessible Transportation Standard Terms of Reference, as part of the Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA). The provincial Accessibility Advisory Council (AAC) has drafted a Transportation Accessibility Standard in accordance with the AMA, part of which outlines new standards for priority seating and mobility aid spaces for transportation service providers, including Winnipeg Transit.

Issues with first-come, first-served priority seating:

• Winnipeg Transit experiences high volumes of transit riders at different points in the day and this leads to crowded buses and ‘pass-ups’ (when riders waiting are passed because the bus is too full to accommodate them).
• There are challenges with pass-ups for all transit riders and that is why the City is working on a Transit Master Plan that proposes a high frequency network.
  • View historical pass-ups statistics now.
• Accessible spaces (seats at the front of the bus where the benches flip up) on transit buses are limited and there is currently a ‘first come, first served’ approach.
• A first-come, first-served approach to priority space is not aligned with the Accessibility For Manitobans Act transportation standard.

You may also read the summary of similar policies from other cities.