Over the past couple of years, I’ve visited more North American cities than I’ve been to in the previous 20: Vancouver, Ottawa, Montréal, Portland, Minneapolis/St Paul, Washington DC.
You know what all of them have that Winnipeg doesn’t? One thing that completely changes how it feels to explore a city without a car? Trains.
Winnipeg dismantled our tram system in the 1950s and never looked back. We’ve been all cars, all the time, ever since.
Sure there are reasons we don’t have trains — but honestly, I don’t care.
In the same way sports fans were heartbroken when we lost the Jets, I — a city fan — am perpetually disappointed by our so-called Bus Rapid Transit.
Not only that but Calgary, Edmonton, and even frickin’ Kitchener/Waterloo all have LRT systems! How embarrassing.
When Winnipeg comes up as a possible host for a future WCEH, all I can think about is how embarrassing it would be to welcome Europeans from real cities into our fake, train-less one.
Build a damn train already!
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