Winnipeg sees slight decrease in bus shelters needing glass repairs

There are slightly fewer bus shelters that are missing glass, as Winnipeg saw a decrease in the number of bus shelters that had their glass shattered in 2023.

According to the city, 301 bus shelters saw their glass shattered in 2023, a decrease from 361 in 2022 and 267 in 2021.

So far this year, 48 bus shelters have experienced glass breaks.

For transit user Jolly Cabigting, who uses a bus shelter on Main Street, it would be nice to have glass-covered ones, at least to provide better protection during colder weather.

“It’s been without glass, even a few years back, there was no glass there,” explained Cabigting.

“It seems like they don’t have the glass there right now. They are probably going to fix that who knows when.”

The city says 107 bus shelters across Winnipeg are currently missing glass, as of March 1.

That number is lower than the year-end totals in the last three years, due to faster delivery of parts.

However, some transit users still believe the city isn’t working fast enough to repair all of Winnipeg’s 880 bus shelters.

“Homeless people have nowhere else to go, and its [bus shelters] probably one of the places they feel safe,” said Destiny Sutherland.

The temporary reprieve bus shelters offer the city’s most vulnerable, is a sign advocates say that all levels of government are failing when it comes to building affordable housing for all.

“We have a general lack of housing in Winnipeg. In fact, over the past 10 years, we lost 25,000 units of housing valued at $750 or less. We are at a vacancy rate of about 1 per cent,” explained Kate Sjoberg, director of community initiatives at Main Street Project.

The city says they are still working on rolling out their pilot of using shatterproof glass to prevent further incidents of bus shelters being damaged.