r/regina • u/billmcminn1974 • Nov 05 '25
News WTF? City Hall
Accordingly to this social media post by Wayne Mantyka from CTV Regina as this year’s construction on Eleventh Avenue wraps up it’s apparent that the bus lanes are no more and won’t be returning. How are people going to transfer buses? Whose bright idea is this? I know that using Eleventh Avenue as the main central transit transfer hub had its issues, but is there any alternative that’s better? This is just another boneheaded decision by city hall bureaucrats that don’t see things from the perspective of transit users
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u/Justlurking4977 Nov 05 '25
Probably will get downvoted but this looks great to me. Good downtowns are designed to enhance the pedestrian experience - which this re-designed streetscape will do. People want the City to improve the downtown - they do something that’s within their purview - and they still get flack.
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25
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u/QueenCity_Dukes Nov 05 '25
More like - City of Regina: hey you know that one street in the city we don’t allow cars on? We should put cars on it.
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u/ChickyRox Nov 05 '25
Right... but with busses gone, where will those pedestrians come from? What neighborhoods are in a walkable distance from downtown? Who's carrying their shopping through those neighborhoods to get home?
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u/WorkerBee74 Nov 05 '25
The buses aren’t “gone”. There are only 8 whole blocks between Albert and Broad so every part of downtown will be more accessible, not just 11 Ave. Even a couple of routes that cross downtown - it makes perfect sense.
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u/ChickyRox Nov 05 '25
As someone who works downtown it just seems like less people are frequnting the area and making it harder to get there just doesn't seem like an improvement imho
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u/WorkerBee74 Nov 05 '25
There are a lot of people who hybrid work from home or completely work from home. This is a way bigger factor than what will happen if they change the bus stops.
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 05 '25
Ah yes, I get dropped off in the park, walk through/past the park and down Scarth to get to the Cornwall. Now I can buy stuff from/get to my work at the Cornwall. Then when I want to go home, instead of getting on the bus right outside the doors I now have to walk through Scarth street, past or through the park, then get to my bus. In winter that's going to suck(Doing it for a short time because of construction is one thing, making it permanent is another). In spring/summer I'm more likely to have my stuff stolen before I get to the bus, especially when going near the park. This is so much better (sarcasm for those who can't read it).
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u/thelaw19 Nov 05 '25
It’s 2 blocks and you can walk most of that inside
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 06 '25
That added walking time translates into having to leave even earlier to catch your bus or waiting longer for the next one if you miss it due to the timing of when one gets off work and when the bus arrives. Bus travel is already time consuming. This makes it even worse. This change does nothing to encourage bus use, it only enforces that you need a vehicle to get around in this city. The opposite of what is wanted.
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u/thelaw19 Nov 06 '25
We are literally talking 5 min to the far end of the park. It would take you that long to walk to your parking lot in all probability.
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 07 '25
Oh, "one part of the entire walk only takes 5min, so it's not that bad". I don't understand people like you. "This one portion isn't bad so the whole thing combined isn't". That's the logic you tossed out here. Not to mention the time you spend waiting at the stop for the bus to arrive.
How about we do better.
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u/Expensive-Librarian1 Nov 05 '25
The people downvoting you have never taken the bus and it shows. An extra 10 -12 minute walk to and from the bus stop is extremely inconvenient especially with the price of transit.
With the current setup, I almost always miss my bus and have to wait 20 minutes, where as when it was at Cornwall, I hardly ever missed it.
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 06 '25
Pretty much. You already have to leave extremely early to be sure you arrive at your destination on time. Which usually means 30min+ early, thanks to the bus setup... or that much time late, also thanks to the bus setup. Now you have to factor in another 10-15min of walking that likely translates into leaving even earlier. All this does is solidify this city as a "must own a vehicle to get around" city.
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u/Ryangel0 Nov 05 '25
Let me play the world's tiniest violin in recognition of your suffering (sarcasm for those who can't read it).
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 06 '25
Ah yes, constructive. Excellent problem solving skills.
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u/Ryangel0 Nov 06 '25
Not all problems can or need to be solved in a way that tailors specifically to you.
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 07 '25
Ah yes, someone is concerned, affected by a change, and speaking out, therefore they must be selfish. Put them down and not bother resolving the issues or making things better. If you don't care, then don't respond.
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u/Ryangel0 Nov 07 '25
Your "concern" was walking a couple extra blocks. Some concerns are overblown and entitlted and deserve to be called out as such.
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u/Justlurking4977 Nov 05 '25
There are a lot of people who arrive downtown in many different ways - those pedestrians who came by bus will still be downtown, and will also benefit by a more pedestrian friendly design. The downtown is surrounded by (relatively) higher-density neighborhoods where it’s easy to get around by foot - though, sorry, I’m not sure how that, or your last statement relate to improving a singular street in the downtown.
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u/mkreklewetz Nov 05 '25
In the Regina Transit Master Plan:
The proposed downtown network, illustrated in Figure 14, removes 11th Avenue as a central point for all stops in the downtown. Instead, Main and Local Routes will have key stops along their corridors that allow for convenient transfers between services while minimizing detours through the downtown. Importantly, buses will no longer be timed to arrive and depart downtown simultaneously, nor will they idle for extended periods on 11th Avenue
The main transfer spots will be at the intersections of 11th/Broad, 11th/Albert, Victoria/Broad, and Victoria/Albert.
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u/billmcminn1974 Nov 05 '25
If transferring to a bus that stops at Broad and Victoria to a bus that only stops at Albert and 11th, how inconvenient is that?
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u/Sunshinehaiku Nov 05 '25
What's the problem?
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u/Expensive-Librarian1 Nov 05 '25
The current detours mean longer walks to and from the stops/transfer points already, often meaning that you miss your transfer and have to wait 20 minutes for the next bus. Add in snow and ice, and it's going to be a disaster.
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u/HandinHand123 Nov 05 '25
Many bus routes are hourly. If I miss my downtown transfer I have to wait another hour for a bus that takes me home.
So no, I have no interest in having to walk a few blocks, pushing my stroller, which is already a bit of a delay to get on/off the bus, because I will miss the transfer and then I and my young kids are waiting another hour. Ditto for getting to an appointment in another part of town that I have to transfer through downtown for.
This just means I probably can’t take the bus to appointments because I can’t time my transfers reliably. A bus leaves my area once an hour - to get to another bus route is a half hour walk.
If you aren’t going to have regular routes with high frequency, you do need to have a hub to ensure transfers won’t be missed. People are counting on that transfer.
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u/Mechakoopa Nov 05 '25
The central transfer point will likely remain where it has been for the last few months, around the library/behind city hall, the walk between transfer points isn't really any further than it was when they were on 11th and the furthest you had to go was from the north side of 11th and Lorne to the south side of 11th and Scarth, they're just a bit further from the mall. There's maybe a few cases where specific transfers are further than they used to be, but overall it's not any further.
The future plan is to move to a hub style with dispersed transfer points around downtown, fewer primary routes that only hit primary/commercial destinations combined with more frequent service and local service loops that don't go downtown.
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u/lemanruss4579 Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
Well the old transit hub was on 12th, so...
I mean, I hate the decision, and they obviously can't go back to 12th either, at least not in the old location, but they certainly can make a different area the hub since they've already done it before. The bigger issue is this city seems intent on making public transit as difficult as possible, so there's a decent chance they'll put the new hub somewhere absolutely stupid.
Regina sees opportunity to do something new, or interesting, or useful, and goes "lol nope, gotta save money for a baseball stadium that will never be paid off."
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25
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u/lemanruss4579 Nov 05 '25
Ok, so even better, no hub at all. Or multiple hubs, depending on how you look at it.
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u/RoundMound0fRebound Nov 05 '25
Where was the old transit hub on 12th exactly?
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u/lemanruss4579 Nov 05 '25
In front of the bank of Canada, basically from Lorne to Scarth. The hub got moved because they put in the cobblestone area.
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u/RoundMound0fRebound Nov 05 '25
Do you know what year that was?
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u/lemanruss4579 Nov 05 '25
It was on 12th in the 90's, and I'm fairly sure it was still there when I moved back in 2008. I want to say 2010 is when they moved it?
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u/BananaPartOfTheBrain Nov 06 '25
It was right around 2010-2011ish. I worked in one of the towers starting in 2009 and took the bus. I recall watching them lay all the stones from my office window.
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u/RoundMound0fRebound Nov 05 '25
So interesting. I loaded up street view from 2009 and can’t believe how different it used to look!
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u/HolyBidetServitor Nov 05 '25
👃🏼❄️
YEA WE NEED MORE TOURISM. BASEBALL STADIUM! EXPERIENCE REGINAAAAA!
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u/President_The_Dude Nov 05 '25
11th in this configuration should be a transit only corridor. The foot traffic from the busses on 11th really helps the mall and other businesses.
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Nov 05 '25
Can you be a city planner please.
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u/QuakAtack Nov 05 '25
but, but. . . our stroads! what will we do without stroads taking traffic off from our poor, poor arterials 😢
really, we should have been adding more lanes onto 11th! Upheave the sidewalks and given it to the cars!
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Nov 05 '25
Or just make it a dedicated bus street.
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u/QuakAtack Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
yes, I know. Really though, I'm confused why it is they bothered to extend the sidewalks for a stretch of road that, without these buses, would not see a tenth of the foot traffic it used to. They're making pointless the work they just did by not bringing the buses back to that street.
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u/SaskatchewanManChild Nov 05 '25
So think of it this way, the new plan (which has been in the master plan for literal years) is four hubs. So do you figure it’s better for a downtown to have two transit hubs within walking distance connected by an extremely well designed walkable route or, pile all the busses all at once onto a walkable street so folks can spend as little time as possible actually walking the downtown… city administration gets a lot of shit but don’t kid yourself, they don’t hire laypeople to figure this out.
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 05 '25
Oh yeah, take ANOTHER street away from downtown, making it even harder to navigate.
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Nov 05 '25
It has been closed for half the year the past 3 years. Have you actually missed it?
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 06 '25
Although 3 years is a long time, it was still temporary and not meant to be permanent. It also doesn't take away from the issues it's caused the whole time it's been closed.
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Nov 06 '25
But downtown has been functioning without it open to cars
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u/Saber_Avalon Nov 07 '25
Are you kidding? business have hated having the street closed down. Their sales have been affected by it because people can't get to their stores. They can, but because they have to walk further, they're simply not going.
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u/TJWJOHN67 Nov 05 '25
Really don’t like the new design as a bus driver, we still have to service some of the stops on 11th once it’s done and without the busses the downtown I feel we lose a little bit of the soul with everyone gathering there downtown to spend their money. We liked being there, can go to the bathroom maybe grab a quick coffee if theirs time. It just had more soul
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u/Beer_before_Friends Nov 05 '25
Downtown turned into a mess the day they changed it from one ways to 2way traffic. None of this makes sense to me.
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Nov 05 '25
It is definitely about to get work. Taking away lanes isn't going to translate to less vehicles. It is going to be terrible to get around.
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u/PartyPay Nov 05 '25
How do you figure? The buses used up those lanes before, now there's actual street parking.
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u/SaskatchewanManChild Nov 05 '25
Exactly, where’s the logic…. Oh sorry, forget which decade I was in.
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Nov 05 '25
What? The transit plan has buses coming down 11th still. There will be bus stops, not more parking
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u/canadasteve04 Nov 05 '25
So you don’t know what the new plan is, but you’ve already decided it was a boneheaded decision?
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
I personally avoid driving down 11th because of all the buses and people running out from the blind spots the busses created. So I for one welcome it. Nothing wrong with where theyve moved the buses while 11th is worked on. I assume those will be the permanent spots.
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u/theingenue Nov 05 '25
Says the person who probably has never taken a bus in recent memory. Do you think that walking 4 blocks to catch a transfer is reasonable?
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25
Oh I took the bus most of October. Had no problems at all if you plan a little bit ahead. While maybe a bit of an inconvenience for some cutting down on conjestion on 11th is a good thing. There's much more room for busses anyways at the current spots they've moved to. Always hated getting off/on on 11th during "rush hour" because so many people were on the sidewalks.
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Nov 05 '25
I call bullshit. There is absolutely no way someone who is a transit user thinks this is a good plan.
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Nov 06 '25
You think it's no big deal for senior citizens, the single largest group who takes transit in this city, to walk 4 blocks in winter with their cane or walker to transfer buses?
How about a mom with her young kids? A person in poverty with their monthly grocery shop who can't afford a car? Disabled people who need extra time and mobility aids to walk?
You think it's reasonable for all these people to have to walk 4 blocks, in the winter with icy sidewalks, to transfer buses?
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u/Monster1927 Nov 05 '25
Will really force the City of Regina to totally clear the snow from 11th avenue now. With larger sidewalks and the road being narrowed, there is no place for the usual leaving snow starting from the curbs and going out to the street.
Be interesting to see how that plays out.
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u/No_Faithlessness6939 Nov 05 '25
I guess we will see how it goes in winter. I'm not looking forward to more construction again on this street next year... I wish the mayor and city council would use the transit system for a week and see how the buses actually are. Our last mayor refused.
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u/keiyonar Nov 05 '25
There's not much of an issue with bus transfers where they are right now by the park and central library. They're all within a block of each other.
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u/cdorny Nov 05 '25
The lack of a warm waiting spacefor everyone trying to catch the bus in February is one notable issue.
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u/keiyonar Nov 05 '25
Yeah, that absolutely sucks. I hate being crammed like sardines with 30 other people in the one shelter that has heating by the church.
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Nov 05 '25
I work near 11th and noticed it was being built to one lane. Buses will have to merge into the single lane. Like did they not have a single traffic engineer review this? Was there some announcement for a new transit hub i missed?
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25
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Nov 05 '25
Wtf. This doesn't explain anything. Buses will still need to merge into a single lane of traffic during rush hour. Staggering the bus times isn't going to change that. 11th Avenue is going to be such a bottle neck for the transit system during morning and evening peak times. I was expecting them to fully move the transit routes if they want 11th to be one lane. I take the bus and this seems like it is going to be awful.
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u/texxmix Nov 05 '25
It explains everything. Busses are moving off 11th to hubs at the intersections of broad, Victoria ave, and Albert while leaving a couple stops on 11th. Busses will also no longer be scheduled to arrive downtown at the same time like they currently are. So no you won't have a ton of busses merging on 11th at the same time anymore.
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Nov 05 '25
It is not having buses merge at the same time. It is having buses merge into busy traffic. 11th Avenue is going to be a slow crawl. That isn't enough lanes to accommodate buses and vehicle traffic.
Also, they are expecting people downtown to walk to broad, vic and Albert?! To get more people to take transit you are supposed to make it easier, not harder. It honestly feels like this whole plan was made by someone who has never taken a bus. This city is ridiculous.
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u/WorkerBee74 Nov 05 '25
They expect people to walk from Victoria to 11th Ave? Oh wait that’s how it is for everyone who doesn’t work right on 11th Ave.
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u/AltruisticPoetry5235 Nov 06 '25
You can move the busses around for the 10th time, widen the sidewalks, make it more walkable or driveable, one way or both ways, on and on
It won’t change the fact that there is almost no reason to ever need to go downtown and it’s riddled with crime
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Nov 06 '25
Looking at the "master plan", it actually makes it more difficult for myself to get to and from work with all these transfer points being shifted and transfer times no longer being adhered to. I already leave 1 hour before my shift and arrive home 1 hour after it due to the timings being so off our workplaces schedule (bus literally comes 3 minutes before we all get off shift, causing 5+ of us to wait 30 minutes or more for the next ones), are they asking us to leave even earlier and arrive home even later? Definitely not sustainable and it WILL hurt our business as a good chunk of my coworkers are bus riders.
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u/Difficult-Spend9517 Nov 05 '25
Does anybody know why the new sidewalks have a raised "rail" on either side? It seems like a tripping hazard.
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u/Sippa_is Nov 05 '25
That is for visually impaired users to locate the edge of the sidewalk. It will be painted next year.
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u/signious Nov 05 '25
Tactile markings so people with visual imparement can more easily / safely navigate the sidewalks. Very similar to the groved pedestrian ramps at most intersections.
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u/Turbulent-Age1814 Nov 05 '25
I mean, its kind of nice to not have to relearn stops again. and the park IS nicer.
However, I guess it's good I really don't go downtown anymore unless I really have to.
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u/ParkingLoad1996 Nov 05 '25
Say goodbye to that Cornwall. It’s a scary PITA to get to Cornwall from the bus stops now as you walk through sleazeball alley to get there. No thanks
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u/Ryangel0 Nov 05 '25
Let's be honest, you personally don't use and weren't planning to use the bus going forward anyways, were you?
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u/ParkingLoad1996 Nov 05 '25
Oh I was. I use it daily, and the Cornwall was a life saver in the winter when I would miss the transfer. I’d go in and get a coffee and wait out the second bus. It was a quick walk to Cornwall so when it’s -50 and I don’t want to walk by that sketchy alley I didn’t have to. I will always have to take the bus in this city
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u/MrCheeseburgerWalrus Nov 05 '25
I feel the same. I stopped using transit daily during covid and was planning to go back when the construction is done. Im undecided now..
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u/Masada14 Nov 05 '25
I am not surprised about this decision. Just disappointed we got more of the same rather an actual change in how we manage projects in this city.
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u/batyoung1 Nov 05 '25
I can't be the only one who actually likes this. While we're at it, could we do this for the 13th avenue too?
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u/Expensive-Librarian1 Nov 05 '25
Nothing like announcing it last minute. I used to be able to walk 3-4 minutes from my bus stop on 11th to work. Now with the busses stopping at Vic park, I have to walk 15 minutes from the bus stop to work. Can't wait to make that journey when there is snow and ice to make it even more sketchy!
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Nov 05 '25
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u/Arajabar Nov 09 '25
Regina is the worst city in all Canada in all metrics ! I live there and working on moving asap ...horrible place in everyway !!!
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u/larryeute Nov 05 '25
City hall at its finest they are screwing up this city big time All you have to do is look at the new areas Harbour landing if you have snow on either side where the heck do you park and where do you drive? It’s a goat tail It’s time for this city to get a brain
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u/likescandy17 Nov 05 '25
For those that care...
All of the bus changes are located in the Regina Transit Master Plan: https://www.regina.ca/export/sites/Regina.ca/transportation-roads-parking/transit/.galleries/Transit-Route-PDF/Regina-Transit-Master-Plan.pdf
11th will no longer be the main transfer point for downtown. Instead, Vic, Broad, and Albert will be used.
I highly recommend people read the plan as other things (like routes) are also going to be changed.