To better understand the issues his constituents have to go through, one City Councillor has decided to spend an entire month travelling by bus.

Yesterday, St. Boniface councillor Matt Allard made a commitment to ride the bus throughout the month of January. Although he owns a vehicle and lives within walking distance of work, Allard wanted to see what it was like for those who take Winnipeg Transit on a daily basis. 

"I thought it would be a good thing for me to show some solidarity [with] the residents who do take the bus every day," Allard said.

Throughout January, Allard will be taking every bus that runs through St. Boniface. That is a total of 16 routes. Three go from his home to work, which includes the 10, 43, and 56. 

"I basically want to take a tour of Transit for the month of January," Allard explained.

The idea came to him when the provincial budget cuts came and forced the city to hike transit fares by 25 cents.

"It got me thinking a lot about transit . . . and if I'm relying on transit for my job, those commutes can be quite long," Allard thought. "It would make my job a little bit more difficult."

Allard is hoping this initiative will give him a chance to meet the people in his ward and learn about the transit system first hand. He wants to bring back ideas that citizens have on ways to improve the bus system, as well as what is already working.

"Some of my constituents don't [have the means to drive] and this is the only way to get around in the city," Allard said. 

With January being one of the colder months of the year, Allard said he will need to make some serious wardrobe upgrades before he starts busing, something that many transit users have already had to get used to.

One day, Allard hopes that he can completely let go of his vehicle, relying only on services like Winnipeg Transit, car-share programs, and eventually Uber. In the meantime, he wants to find ways to connect with those using the transit system, so he will be posting his ride times on social media with the hashtag #MeetMeOnTheBus.

How long did it take to come up with that hashtag? Allard says a lot longer than he thought. They like where they settled.

"We thought it was pretty clever," Allard laughed.