The end of the Transit Windsor Tunnel Bus service could happen later this summer.
Next week, members of the city's Environment, Transportation & Public Safety Standing Committee will go over a staff report, detailing the termination of the service.
The report is recommending continuing the regular tunnel bus service until August 31 and also recommending the end of the special events bus service on December 20.
According to the report, the August 31 timeline "aligns with the transit operator’s shift sign-up process for new pieces of work, and the implementation of the new service plan in September."
The report goes on to say, "extending the special events bus service through the fall would allow the city to generate revenue from events, helping to offset the expected variance and cost pressures in the 2025 Transit Windsor operating budget as a result of the Paid Medical Leave (PML) days."
Ward 3 city councillor Renaldo Agostino sits on the committee and says he isn't surprised with the two end dates.
"There was a lot of discussion post the mayor's decision that the immediate ceasing of the tunnel bus was not going to save the taxpayers any money for this year, so why get rid of it for this year," says Agostino. "Like I said, I'm happy to see the special events bus continue and hopefully we can find a way to continue it even further into the future."
He says he's happy to hear the special events bus will continue until December.
"This is certainly positive news for me anyway to make sure that those people that come to Windsor for events and stay in our hotels and people that are crossing back and forth, that helps the downtown economy to know that it's going continue to very least the end of the year," says Agostino.
Agostino says he continues to hear from residents about the end of the service.
He says there is a lot of concern moving forward.
"The threat of tariffs from the president of the United States Donald Trump has really left a bit of a sour taste in everybody's mouth right now and I'm just hoping that dark cloud that looms over us for April 2nd, there's going to be some positive results for that so we can really look to getting things back to normal but right now it's very difficult," says Agostino.
City staff says the additional revenue generated will help offset a portion of the personal medical leave expense that will occur in 2025.
Last month, a motion to override mayor Drew Dilkens' veto of a budget amendment to continue funding the transit service to downtown Detroit failed, ultimately ending the cross-border service.
The city's 2025 budget called for the elimination of the regular tunnel bus and special events bus that runs between Windsor and Detroit.
The elimination of the service is expected to save the city between $1.4-million and $1.6-million.
On January 27 during city budget deliberation, council voted 7-4 in favour of amending the budget to maintain the tunnel bus and the special events bus but increase rates to $20 each way.
