Bank account for Transit Windsor looks good

Thanks to LaSalle and university students, Transit Windsor has come within $86,078 of asking the City of Windsor for the same taxpayer subsidy in 2018 as it received in 2017 to help run its buses.

Its proposed operating budget seeks $13.2 million from city taxpayers — a 0.66-per-cent increase — despite the fact labour costs are rising by almost $500,000. What’s helped it come close to a zero increase is a five-per-cent rise in ridership thanks to two major initiatives launched in 2017: a universal bus pass for University of Windsor students and service to the Town of LaSalle.

Combined, those two initiatives will contribute $350,000 to Transit Windsor’s bank account in 2018, according to a proposed budget projection.

And they’ll also spur improvements to the system. As part of its commitment to the students when they voted in favour of UPass last year, Transit Windsor intends to plow some of the new money it’s getting into enhanced services. Its busiest route, the Transway 1C, which services the U of W along University Avenue, runs every 10 minutes during peak hours, and every 15 minutes in non-peak hours from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Now, Transit Windsor wants to extend the 10-minute frequency to those non-peak daytime hours. Though it will cost an extra $250,000 annually, it will be “fully funded from the proceeds of the UPass along with increased ridership revenue,” says a Transit Windsor report.

“That’s a very good news story, that you can increase your transit service and you’re not costing the taxpayer any more,” said Transit Windsor executive director Pat Delmore. When the UPass system was originally launched, Delmore talked about the benefit it would bring to the overall system, and the enhancements to the Transway 1C are proof of that, he said. Though it services the university, it also runs downtown, then south on Ouellette Avenue and east on Tecumseh Road all the way to Forest Glade.

Fares provide about $14.1 million toward Transit Windsor’s operating budget, with $13.1 million coming from the City of Windsor and the rest coming from provincial gas tax.