Following Windsor city council’s approval of the 2023 budget, which will make way for Transit Windsor’s largest service hour increase in decades, a local employment agency says it’s been unable to offer positions to many job seekers due to ongoing issues with the public transit system.
On Wednesday, council approved a property tax increase of 4.48 per cent or nearly $21 million in new city spending. As part of that is more than $900,000 to help Transit Windsor expand its Sunday service, adding new routes and increase frequency.
That investment is extremely necessary to help people accept job opportunities which are currently unavailable to them, according to the director of strategic operations for The Job Shoppe.
“We see and meet a lot of great candidates who, unfortunately, we can not offer jobs to or they can not accept the positions because they can not get to that facility in time for their shift,” said Ashley Sarros.
When looking specifically at students, who may not own a car in some cases, Sarros estimates 40 per cent of those individuals have been unable to accept or be offered certain employment opportunities due to issues surrounding transit.
That percentage, she added, may be a little higher depending on the season.
According to Transit Windsor executive director Tyson Cragg, the 2023 budget will add 18,000 service hours — a six per cent increase from its current base service.
Making up the largest share of those new service hours is the 418-X express route — connecting the Tecumseh Road east-west corridor with the University of Windsor.
“One of the biggest demands we’ve had has also been in the area east of Tecumseh Mall around Lauzon Parkway. That area is currently being serviced by the 1C and Lauzon 10. Those routes have not provided great service there,” said Cragg.
“Those are being replaced by three new routes which will provide service in the 30-minute frequency range. They’ll provide better coverage to some neighbourhoods that don’t currently have service.”
Transit Windsor was unsuccessful, however, in its request of nearly $500,000 for transit fleet reserve funding.
The reserve fund can be used to cover the costs of unexpected repairs, replacements, and upgrades to the buses. Having a reserve fund can help transit agencies avoid service disruptions and reduce downtime for riders.
Council opted to hold on to that money as one way of reducing the tax rate.
“Given our current fleet situation, it wasn’t critical this year. We’ve been able to leverage a lot of federal and provincial funding … to purchase a significant number of new buses,” said Cragg.
“If we hadn’t taken those opportunities earlier, this would’ve been a bigger hit to us. But if I had to sacrifice anything this year — that would be the one thing I could live without and kick down the road for next year.”
Cragg said the eventual goal is for all Transit Windsor routes to run at a 30-minute frequency.
“If you’re riding a bus and you have to wait an hour because you missed one bus, it doesn’t make the service very attractive to use,” he said.
While the improvements will allow for more mobility for residents who primarily rely on transit to get around the city, Sarros said challenges remain for Windsor-based job seekers who are unable to accept employment “just outside the Windsor border.”
“A good example might be around the Patillo Road area or more into Amherstburg and Leamington,” said Sarros.
“So although there may be some transit in those areas, it just does not line up with when shift times start and end. Even if those times line up, they may have to make a connection to get across town which can take hours. It’s a big barrier.”
Transit Windsor is seeing its ridership 18 per cent higher than it was before the pandemic, according to city staff.
Cragg tells CTV News Windsor the 418-X express route is expected to begin running in the summer, with the remainder of service changes to be implemented by the next six months.
On July 1, single transit fare will increase from $3.15 to $3.25.
