Windsor transit ridership is up 80% — and buses are crowded two-thirds of the time

Transit Windsor is experiencing tremendous growth in ridership, which has led to service issues such as missed passengers and overcrowding, according to a new report.

Total ridership for 2023 was nearly 9.5 million compared to just under 5.3 million for 2022, representing an increase of 80 per cent or 4.2 million linked trips (including transfers). 

Compared to pre-pandemic ridership in 2019, 2023 ridership shows an increase of 13 per cent. 

"This growth is consistent with what other peer agencies have experienced, as most transit systems in Canada are facing similar challenges with ridership," the 2023 performance report from Transit Windsor reads.

In particular, student ridership is up 156 per cent year over year, mainly due to tuition-based bus pass programs at St. Clair College and the University of Windsor.

The report says both institutions reported higher enrolments in 2023, including domestic and international students, who have relied heavily on transit, greatly increasing ridership and average system usage. 

With all of Transit Windsor's routes experiencing ridership growth in 2023, the report said this has led to service issues such as missed passengers and overcrowding. 

"Demand has surpassed the frequency levels on many routes and at various times and days of the week," according to the report. 

"This increased demand also extends the running time of routes due to more frequent stops, delaying routes and affecting overall performance."

Transit Windsor's on-time performance for 2023 was 61 per cent. 

The report said primary and secondary routes should have a minimum of 25 boardings per service hour (BSH) on weekdays, with a target of 35 BSH. Typically, when boardings per hour exceed 35 (over a seated load), routes experience overloads and require service frequency improvements. 

"In 2023, two thirds of Transit Windsor's primary/secondary routes were well above the 35 BSH mark," the report said.

A number of transit riders who spoke with CBC News said they have noticed they increased numbers.

"I feel like there's been a lot of improvements and I have noticed that there are a lot of people using the bus, especially on Sundays," Ashakie Hodge-Browne said.

"It comes every hour in the morning and it's always full, especially on the major routes like the 2, the 1C, and the 1A sometimes, you can tell the difference between a weekday and a weekend. 

But even on some routes like the 5, they always seem to have someone on it."

Fred Mango said "the bus service is good and reliable," but the longer wait times on weekends can be frustrating.

"The weekend is a bit slow [and] can take 20 to 30 minutes waiting time," he said.

Another rider, Seth Harrison, said the buses "mainly get very packed" on weekends, but he's also noticed some improvements with scheduling.

'Growing pains'

Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie requested the report, which is on the agenda for a city transportation standing committee meeting Wednesday. He says he's glad to see it shows progress, but he wants the city to do more. 

"But there's more demand on the service than we've ever seen in the history of the service being delivered ... and if we're being frank, the service in the city, Windsor historically has been behind the levels of service that you might see in other communities across Ontario," he said.

"I think we're doing better. But I think that there's a lot of work that remains to be done. Certainly the investments and the supports that we're getting from the federal government and the province ... helps us tremendously to close that gap.

McKenzie noted Windsor's growing population as putting pressure on transit and other services the city provides. 

"I want council to have that information so that we can make decisions about the extent to which we can look at enhancing that service to meet that demand."

Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino says the report is a reflection of the overall growth being experienced in the city.

"Our city is growing, our city is growing fast and that's a good thing, and this to me is one of the growing pains," he told CBC News.

"We're going to have to figure out how to increase our transit system to meet up with the ridership."

McKenzie said that while the transportation committee will receive that report for information this week, he'd like to formalize an annual report to council that measures transit service performance compared to the master plan. 

Earlier in July Irek Kusmierczyk, MP for Windsor-Tecumseh, announced that Transit Windsor is receiving more than $117 million for upgrades — including 59 new buses — in what's being hailed as a historic investment involving all three levels of government.

Agostino said these funds will go a long way toward improving transit services even further.

"There's going to be support coming, new buses, we're replacing some of our diesel buses, we're putting some money into infrastructure at our our bus stations, there's a lot of work coming, it's just going to come quicker and we've got to adapt," he said.

"A lot of that is going to come to technology as well as making our routes faster, give people the opportunity to know when their bus is coming."