Almost 60 new buses to hit the streets as part of $117M investment in Transit Windsor

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.

Irek Kusmierczyk, MP for Windsor-Tecumseh, announced Thursday the money will go toward 10 projects.

He called it a "historic, transformative investment to modernize Transit Windsor."

Anthony Leardi, MPP for Essex, said the funding will be a game-changer for the city.

"From new buses and upgraded stops to more cutting-edge technologies, taking public transit in Windsor will be easier than ever," he said. 

The federal government is kicking in more than $45.5 million, while the Ontario government is contributing  $37.9  million. The City of Windsor's contribution is $34.3 million.

The projects include:

• 34 hybrid-electric buses.
• 25 diesel buses.
• Upgrades to the transit garage and equipment.
• Relocation of the east end bus terminal.
• Improvements to the west end bus terminal.
• Improvements to "services and technology."

Tyson Cragg, executive director of Transit Windsor, said some of the projects are in the planning stages right now. He said the money will help the city achieve goals in its 2019 transit master plan.

"It goes a long way," he said. "A lot of our expansion plans are dependent on storage capacity and also terminal capacity."

The biggest share of the money is going toward the electric buses at $15.8 million, while $6.7 million is earmarked for the diesel buses.

The new buses will be ordered soon, Cragg says, but it could take a year to 18 months for them to be delivered.

A report that outlines the state of the city's assets found that about 40 per cent of its transit fleet is in poor or very poor condition, but Cragg says that the condition is largely based on the age of the fleet. The report notes the average condition of the buses is improving.