Haven't seen anything regarding this so Ill post some of the more recent Windsor Star articles in case some readers arent aware. Transit Windsor will be expanding to the town of lasalle in September! I'd like to also mention that Amherstburg and Lakeshore are also now looking into public transit which may or may not include Transit Windsor. Tecumseh started it all with Tecumseh Transit, now lasalle with Transit Windsor, and the other towns are now looking into it as well! Great news!
Transit Windsor hit by perfect storm of good news, including higher ridership
Transit Windsor has been hit by a perfect storm of good news, crediting a jump in ridership to a number of recent and ongoing improvements and expansion to the city’s public transportation system.
Ridership is suddenly up and expected to rise further in the near future. Executive director Pat Delmore cites a number of developments for the bright outlook:
$20 million in new federal/city funding to pay for 24 new buses and 150 new solar-powered bus shelters, with the second phase of funding still to come.
New technology helping the system operate better and inform riders exactly when their bus is due.
A partnership with LaSalle to provide a route through the town that connects with the Windsor system starting in September.
The resounding success of the U-Pass program approved last year in a referendum by University of Windsor graduate and undergrad students who pay an extra $66 per semester for a universal bus pass. With 12,500 U-Passes in circulation during the winter semester, students are filling the buses, not just to go to school, but to travel throughout the city day and night.
Ridership, which had been stagnant in recent years, is up 3.5 per cent, thanks to U-Pass, equating to 227,000 more bus rides a year. And now part-time students have voted to join the U-Pass program starting in the fall.
“The uptake has been very, very impressive,” said Coun. Bill Marra, who chairs the Transit Windsor board and is hopeful of getting St. Clair students on board with a U-Pass program as well. “Getting more students on the buses and exposed to public transit has been very, very valuable,” he said.
All these new initiatives are aimed at increasing ridership, Delmore said. And when that happens, revenue climbs and improvements to the system are possible, which again leads to increased ridership, revenues and more improvements, he added.
The U-Pass program was supposed to be revenue neutral, meaning the money lost from $66-per-month bus passes that some students bought was offset by getting $66 per semester from everyone. But the program has generated more revenue than expected because fewer students than predicted opted out (they can opt out if they live in the county), enrolment was higher than expected and the increased ridership has resulted in more cash from the province’s gas tax. That extra money will be ploughed back into improving service to the students, Delmore said.
“This builds a community, it really does, because it gives you the additional dollars into the system to help you to build it, and then other people are attracted to the service,” Delmore said of the U-Pass program.
He said if St. Clair students agree to a similar deal, service would first have to be improved on the routes that service the college’s main campus. And that would improve service for everyone in South Windsor.
“If we had every-15-minute or every-10-minute service on the Dominion 5 (one of two routes that service St. Clair), how many people might say: ‘You know what? I don’t necessarily need a second car or a third car,'” Delmore said. “That’s the whole goal of what a student bus pass can do for a community.”
University of Windsor Students’ Alliance vice-president Sarah Noureddine said the program has definitely been a success. Students are riding the bus more frequently and enjoying the value, she said. “Sixty-six dollars a semester is much more doable than the current monthly fee for a transit pass,” she said, adding she expects even more students will use the U-Pass when the part-time students start using it and the LaSalle service starts in September.
Though LaSalle gets the ridership revenue when someone gets on the bus in LaSalle, Transit Windsor gets the money when that rider boards in Windsor to go back to LaSalle. Delmore and Marra both hope the LaSalle service will be such a success that other neighbouring municipalities — including Tecumseh, which has its own bus service that doesn’t integrate with Transit Windsor — will be interested in a similar arrangement.
The result, said Delmore, could be a truly integrated regional transit system.
Transit Windsor’s entry into LaSalle, providing bus service in the town starting in September, is a “really big deal,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said Monday.
“This is what I consider to be the bones of a regional transit system.”
The last time there was any semblance of buses running between Windsor and towns in the county was 1978, Dilkens said, as council formally approved a new agreement with the Town of LaSalle.
Transit Windsor is providing the service on a cost-recovery basis. It’s charging a $51.27 hourly rate, plus LaSalle is paying for fuel, the cost of bus stops and other infrastructure, as well as the cost over 12 years to buy two new diesel buses.
LaSalle is expecting 53,000 to 60,000 riders annually. To spur ridership, the service will be free until Dec. 31. The 45-minute LaSalle route, which was designed to cover 70 per cent of households, will connect into the Windsor system.
Once LaSalle riders start paying, the $3 fare paid in LaSalle will go to LaSalle to help offset its costs. If they take the bus from Windsor into LaSalle, Transit Windsor keeps the $3.
“This is going to be very good for the (LaSalle) community and will also benefit the City of Windsor because it will provide 60,000 additional riders,” said Coun. Bill Marra, who chairs the Transit Windsor board. He said he’s hoping LaSalle’s experience will lead to other municipalities also asking for service from Transit Windsor.
Windsor city council agrees to LaSalle transit partnership
Deal could be the beginning of larger regional transit operations, say Windsor city councillors
Windsor city councillors were once again talking regional transit Monday as they gleefully approved a deal that will connect the city's bus operations to the Town of LaSalle.
Mayor Drew Dilkens hopes the new system can serve as a successful example that may eventually stretch to other communities in Essex County.
LaSalle motors ahead with public transit plans
"We think it just makes more sense to scale up an existing system that's already very large and operational and now the benefit is to the residents of the Town of LaSalle who get to enjoy that experience," he said. "I hope this is just the start of regional transit."
In the deal, LaSalle will buy two buses from Transit Windsor. Both buses will travel from St. Clair College through the town's main business district, to the Vollmer Centre and Front Road, eventually connecting to Windsor's system.
LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya has been eager to establish a transit system that connects to Windsor. Bus service is just some of the features people look for when relocating to a community, he explained back in March when his council approved the deal.
"I am really excited about this," he said at the time.