It's the end of the line for Transit Windsor's tunnel bus service to Detroit.
At a special city council meeting held Friday morning, ward 3 city councillor Renaldo Agostino put a motion on the floor to override mayor Drew Dilkens' veto of a budget amendment to continue funding the transit service to downtown Detroit.
In a recorded vote, Agostino's motion failed by a 6-5 vote, ultimately ending the cross-border service.
Ward 10 councillor Jim Morrison had a change of heart and previously voted to save the service but voted against the override.
Morrison says from a business standpoint, providing the service does not make financial sense.
He says the city needs to make good business decisions.
"At first I certainly thought well let's give it time but I feel that it's actually got to be a worse situation and I don't see any possibility of getting better by next year," he says Morrison.
Morrison says at budget time, he got soft and sentimental.
"It's a second chance for me to make a decision that I realized quickly after I voted on January 27 that I may have made a mistake and I kept reflecting on it and more and more I realized yes I had voted the wrong way and so today I get a chance to correct my vote," says Morrison.
Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante supported the motion to override and says he was open to looking at sensible and responsible partnerships.
"If getting transit on a sustainable path is the goal, if that's a collective will of council then let's work with Transit Windsor, let's get a report back and let's look at the economics of achieving that goal, we didn't even do that," says Costante.
Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac voted against Agostino's motion and says taxes are a big concern to residents she has talked to.
"This isn't an easy job and if you've come to make friends or you've come to be hugged as you walk down the street, you've come to the wrong place and I will not be able to support the motion to overturn the mayor's veto," says Gignac.
"The decisions made by the Prime Minister and the government of the day, made the tunnel bus financially unworkable and then in my mind, Donald Trump killed it and put it over the edge," says Dilkens.
The mayor says the city will have a proper plan to wind down the tunnel bus.
"This will not happen overnight, it will probably take six months but we will communicate that effectively and we will do it appropriately to not leave anyone hanging in the short term," he says. "We're going to be responsible, fair and reasonable in our approach here."
The city's 2025 budget called for the elimination of the Transit Windsor regular tunnel bus and special events bus that runs between Windsor and Detroit, a $1.4 million cost savings.
On January 27 during 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.
Right now, it's $10 for a one-way ticket and $20 for a round-trip ticket to use the service.