For the first time in six years, people in Winnipeg will be able to hop on a different kind of bus to get around — one that uses rivers instead of roads.
Winnipeg Waterways, a new boat tour and transit operator running at The Forks, launched its water bus service on the weekend and ferried roughly 300 passengers on Sunday, said co-owner Will Belford. Operators were “pleasantly surprised” that boats were nearly full the entire day, he said.
“Just like the land bus, there’s no pre-booking. We never know how many folks are going to show up. We just sort of start driving and hopefully folks get on,” Belford told CBC Information Radio guest host Faith Fundal on Tuesday.
Each pontoon boat can hold about a dozen people and makes stops at a number of public docks along the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, Belford said.
That includes a stop at The Forks, which said in a news release last week that the new service is the first water bus in Winnipeg since 2018.
The water bus connects seven docks in the city’s central neighbourhoods, including stops at Hugo, Norwood, Stephen Juba Park, the Manitoba Legislature, the Assiniboine River Walk at the Midtown Bridge and the Esplanade Riel.
Buses run roughly every 15 minutes, the news release said.
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Riders can pay their fares with a credit card when they get on the bus, and options range from a $6 single-way fare to a $200 unlimited monthly membership.
The water bus is scheduled to run from 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day, plus from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays.
Belford said he hopes the new service will be a good way to get around, particularly for people commuting to and from work — and a good reminder of how crucial the rivers were to Winnipeg’s history.
“Winnipeg has really been quite an important place for a really long time because of its waterways and its connection to everywhere else,” he said.
“So for us, it’s really important to bring folks back down. It’s like this secret little super highway right in the middle of everything.”