Final days of the Windsor tunnel bus: Services to stop by end of year

Windsor's decades-old tunnel bus service linking the city to Detroit now has an official end date. 

In fact, make that two end dates: One for the regular commuter service, and another for the special events service. 

Commuter service will end on Aug. 31 of this year, while special events service will continue until Dec. 20.

The dates were contained in a report that city council approved at a meeting on April 28.

"By operating the Tunnel Bus and Special Event services until the end dates outlined in the report, additional revenue of approximately $638,800 is projected to be generated to help offset a portion of the personal medical leave (PML) expense that will occur in 2025," the report says. 

Those leave expenses were part of Mayor Drew Dilkens' justification earlier this year for cutting the cross-border service. Because the tunnel bus crosses an international border, the entirety of the city's transit workers fall under federal labour laws, which starting in 2022, guaranteed workers 10 paid sick days.

Dilkens also argued he couldn't support funding a service to the U.S. amid trade tensions between with Canada.

In a use of his strong mayor powers earlier this year, Dilkens vetoed council's decision to continue the tunnel bus service and increase the fare. 

At last Monday's council meeting, Coun. Kieran McKenzie suggested the city extend the commuter service until the end of the year instead of the special events service, which a city official said has seen declining ridership amid the trade war. 

"We're seeing a lot more events being cancelled due to low ridership," said Stephan Habrun, acting executive director at Transit Windsor.

WATCH: Windsor's tunnel bus is officially dead. Here's how it happened.

Windsor's tunnel bus is officially dead — here's how it happened, and what it means

3 months ago

Duration 3:16

Windsor's tunnel bus, the unique service that takes passengers across the border from Windsor to Detroit and back, will end service this year. It was a decision by Mayor Drew Dilkens that council tried, unsuccessfully, to override on Friday in a bid to save the service. The CBC's Chris Ensing reports.

Then-Chief Administrative Officer Joe Mancina, who retired last week, told McKenzie that ending the commuter service at the end of the summer frees up resources for other "service-level enhancements" planned for the fall.

He said there are bigger events in the fall as well, such as football and hockey games, to draw riders in and hopefully recoup more costs — at a time when maybe tensions with the U.S. will have simmered down.