Windsor councillor claims Tunnel bus 'bleeding money'

(CTV News file image)

Windsor City Council will meet Monday morning for the first meeting of the new year, and for the first time since mayor Drew Dilkens tabled the 2025 city budget.

The draft budget is calling for a 2.99 per cent municipal tax levy increase, and within that document were $1.4-million in proposed cuts to Transit Windsor.

About two dozen residents have signed up to appear as delegates during Monday's meeting, the time set aside for them to offer feedback on the budget.

One of the items of contention has been the possible elimination of the tunnel bus, with one resident having created an online petition that saw over 3,400 signatures attached to it in less than a week.

Speaking on AM800's Live and Local with Kyle Horner, Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie says only a small portion of the population uses the tunnel bus program and Windsor taxpayers should not be on the hook for that.

"I get that we do subsidize things in the city. We subsidize pools, we subsidize rec centres, and things like that, but, sooner or later, and we've gotten to this point now where it's just bleeding money, right? And we've got to try to stop that."

Once in Detroit, the tunnel bus makes its way on a short route through the downtown to the Rosa Parks Transit Centre.

McKenzie suggested maybe implementing a shorter route.

"Do we need all the stops still for the tunnel bus in Detroit? Maybe it's just we drop you off at the RenCen and then we pick you up, because they still have two, three, or four stops in Detroit."

McKenzie also says he wants a report on the recovery numbers for the transit service as a whole.

One of the proposals in the budget is to increase tunnel bus fare by 50 per cent, and he suggested increasing the special events fare higher than that.

"If it's 60 per cent recovery, then we should be getting 60 per cent recovery on the tunnel bus as well. So again, if it's $50 [to run per trip], then we should probably be charging $30."

A representative from the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is set to appear as a delegate.

The ATU represents around 300 Transit Windsor workers, and last week accused the city of intentionally limiting tunnel bus hours, driving users away from the service.

The full extent of the cuts that are being proposed in the budget are unknown as its been listed as an in-camera item.

Council will meet to deliberate the budget beginning Jan. 27.

— Dustin Coffman/AM800 News