Transit Windsor looks to boost capacity limit on buses

Transit Windsor is working to increase capacity on its buses as it prepares to bring service levels back up to where they were pre-pandemic.

"Currently, we have a 40-seat capacity on our buses," said Tony Houad, acting executive director of Transit Windsor. "We're looking at increasing that capacity, but we want to make sure that we're doing it in a safe manner for our operators and our riders."

"We're hoping in the next little while that we're going to start seeing higher capacities, but it doesn't mean that we're not going to be monitoring overload issues," he said. "We have additional buses that we can send out to make sure that we minimize as best as possible."

There's currently no public health rules preventing the buses from operating at full capacity. In a statement to CBC News, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit said it has not issued any orders.

"In our correspondence with [Transit Windsor], we have indicated that they should adhere to provincial public health and safety guidelines established by the Government of Ontario," the statement reads.

That 40-passenger restriction was worked out with the union representing transit employees. Houad said Transit Windsor is working with the union to increase the limits.

According to a 2021 Transit Windsor service report, the agency is one of the only public transit systems in Ontario that still has capacity limitations in place (in 2021, drivers had reported their buses were at capacity 864 times, with 822 of those incidents coming during the fall).

"We're hoping by September we go back to full service hours," he said. "What that means is we have to ensure that we have enough staffing available."

"We're in the process right now of doing a large recruitment," Houad said. "We have applications already in the queue, interviewing operators, getting enough staff in place. So this way, when kids are back in school, September, we're going to be up and running full service where we go."

He said Transit Windsor needs to hire about 20 drivers to bring service levels up. Hours of operation will be slowly increased over the coming months, Houad said.  Currently, buses are running on an enhanced Saturday schedule, and the tunnel bus route to Detroit remains suspended.

Houad said it's not yet known when the tunnel bus will resume.

"We're currently meeting with the Canadian Border Services Agency and having discussions on what that means for us, because it's not as simple as crossing the border," he said. "Right now, the restrictions are you have to be fully vaccinated, you have to have the ArriveCan app."

"Unfortunately, that doesn't work with how we provide our service," Houad said. "Until those restrictions and mandates have been eliminated, we're not going to be operating a ton of services."

The federal government announced Thursday it was eliminating pre-entry COVID-19 testing requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers entering Canada as of April 1.

Houad said Transit Windsor is preparing so it will be ready to resume the tunnel bus route when it can.

Overall, Houad asked Transit Windsor passengers to be patient.

"Obviously, over the last two years, it's been a challenge for everyone," he said. "As we see now with this increased fuel prices ... people are looking for alternatives. And public transit is one way to help with the bottom line."