LaSalle’s contract with Transit Windsor expires next year, but the town is currently having important discussion and is doing a study on the future of transit in the town. “We’re looking at how it works in the municipality now. What’s missing in the municipality and what our options are going forward,” Mayor Crystal Meloche told CTV News. “Transit is very challenging for any municipality.” Meloche says residents have been asking for more bus lines, lines that go deeper into the community, and for longer hours. The town has to determine if any of those options are viable and whether to continue with the current model or consider other options. One thing is for sure – they have to decide because the municipality is on a growth trajectory. “A lot of residents depend on that to get to work, to school so what our options are we just don’t know yet and I look forward to that report from administration,” said Meloche, who anticipates the report later this year. In the meantime, Windsor is navigating through a deficit of nearly $8 million. Earlier this week council approved a recommendation to update the 10-year Transit Windsor masterplan which was approved in 2020. “The mayor’s budget works in collaboration with administration. What they came up with was what I would interpret as overly aggressive revenue projections for the 2025 year,” McKenzie said. He points to the cap on international students which ultimately affected ridership and helped produced the deficit. McKenzie emphasized that while the reduction hurt transit revenue, other rider groups have been increasing to near pre-pandemic levels. “It’s very good, and again, this is the point I’m trying to drive home...our plan is working,” he said. McKenzie feels things can only get better with a new fare box that will be introduced at some point. He says the box will help in the budgeting process, as it’ll show where people are getting on and exiting. “I think it’s really important to look at that as not an opportunity to cut the service but it’s to redirect resources into other areas where we have demand that being unmet,” McKenzie explained. “I think what you’ll see, given the data tools that we have available to us is increased ridership, a more efficient system, and putting us on a path to actually having a transit system that we can be really proud of in our community.”
