As hundreds of Winnipeg bus shelters await broken glass replacements and wintry weather sets in, the City of Winnipeg is preparing to test out a shatterproof alternative.
A new pilot project will test how polycarbonate glass panels could help address the backlog in repairs.
At a bus stop on Main Street that has several missing panes of glass, a Transit rider said it has been a struggle to escape recently plummeting temperatures.
BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES
City workers clean up broken glass from a bush shelter on Maryland near Notre Dame. The city is launching a new pilot project to see if polycarbonate panels would be a viable alternative for glass in Winnipeg Transit bus shelters.
“The winter is coming and it’s getting so cold and there’s a lot of people waiting for the buses. The (shelters) are not so good in quality. I think they should be much more winter-resistant,” said Tammana Bansal.
Bansal said the effort to try out shatterproof glass to better keep structures intact is welcome.
Another rider agreed.
“I think that would be really good, especially when it’s super cold out, when it’s snowing … and there’s nowhere to go,” said Summer Wilson.
A new city tender seeks a company to buy the special glass for a roughly one-year pilot project, which does not yet have an exact start date.
Last year, 305 bus shelters had 750 panes of glass damaged, information from Winnipeg Transit shows. This year so far, 233 shelters have been damaged, affecting 591 panes of glass and 93 doors.
As of Tuesday, 207 shelters were missing at least some glass, up from 115 at the end of 2023 and 143 at the end of 2022.
The city has 880 bus shelters, including 170 that are heated.
Winnipeg Transit first confirmed it was planning to test out shatterproof glass at bus shelters in November 2023 but did not post a tender to buy the material until this week.
In an email, a Transit spokeswoman said each panel is expected to cost between 2.5 and four times more than regular safety glass.
“The cost and number of shelters installed with polycarbonate-style panels… will be determined as part of the (tender) evaluation process,” wrote Megan Benedictson.
Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said she’s hopeful the pilot will ease the demand to replace shattered glass.
“We’re constantly repairing, it’s costing us about $300,000 a year on replacing glass in the shelters. There are 183 open work orders right now… and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming to an end,” said Lukes (Waverley West).
While the tender doesn’t note exactly how many shelters the shatterproof glass will be installed at, Lukes estimates it could be placed at about five to eight sites.
She noted a surge in broken glass arrived with the pandemic, caused by vandalism, vehicle crashes and fires.
“We’re hoping that this glass (will help prevent that)… There’s actually a lot of businesses that are using it and it’s proving to be very effective,” she said.
Lukes said proper shelter is critical for transit riders in a winter city like Winnipeg and will also be needed after Winnipeg overhauls its primary transit network in June.
“With the new primary network… virtually everyone’s going to have to make a transfer at some point in their trip … because it’s a spine-and-feeder system. Your next bus might be five or 10 minutes (away),” she said.
The councillor noted social issues appear linked to the shattered glass, as some bus shelters have also been used by the homeless as a place to stay.
Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said efforts to better maintain shelters are “terribly needed.”
“As the work is structured, (bus) operators have to wait out on the street to take over (routes)… so they also need to be protected,” said Scott.
The union leader, who represents drivers and bus shelter maintenance crews, said one of his members reported multiple panes of glass being shattered at the same bus shack three times in a short period.
“That’s why the department has often exceeded its glass budget in the first third of the year… We understand that this shatterproof glass is more expensive. But, in the long run, it will be a cost savings, if you’re not having to replace those panels on a regular basis,” said Scott.
However, he suspects catching up on glass replacements could be followed by an increase in the number of people seeking bus shelters to sleep in, since they would become relatively warmer.
“This is probably now going to increase occupancy in shelters. (So) those underlying issues that bring that to the forefront have to be addressed as well,” he said.
The city will accept bids to provide the shatter-resistant glass until Dec. 16.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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