Windsor-Detroit's tunnel bus faces uncertain future as city announces pared-down budget

The tunnel bus, which takes many from Windsor to Detroit to get to events and major sporting games, is facing an uncertain future, as the city tightens its belt going into the 2025 budget process. 

On Friday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens presented his draft budget and announced a projected tax increase of 2.99 per cent. That's down from an initial increase of more than 12 per cent.

Dilkens said cuts are expected, but he gave no confirmation on Friday whether the tunnel bus would be among the impacted services. The budget does include $1.4 million in cuts to Transit Windsor, but it's unknown what those cuts include.

Dilkens said city council has some difficult decisions to consider this year and said the service is under review. When asked directly if there would be a tunnel bus service in the budget, he said there are "no sacred cows."

"There's certainly an implication with the tunnel bus that city council will have to consider in terms of the cost that's associated with operating that service," he said.

"We operate the tunnel bus, it's a highly subsidized service that is used by residents in every municipality through Essex County to get to different games and it's not just a service for Windsorites, but Windsorites ... pay the full fare of the subsidy, and that's not right."

Because the service crosses an international border, it requires the City of Windsor to provide staff 10 federally mandated sick days, which makes the service more expensive overall. 

"lt will be up to city council to decide the path forward," Dilkens told reporters. "But like I said — there's no sacred cows."

Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino, who represents downtown, said he viewed the service as "critically important" and said he anticipated it being a service that would be looked at closely in the budget process. 

"But at the same time, until we know what the real cost is, it's tough to say 'here's a shiny toy I want to keep it' without saying how we're going to keep it," he said. "I think the community, pretty sure, will understand quite clearly that we have to have something that keeps us connected." 

In November 2024, CBC Windsor reported that Transit Windsor faced a revenue deficit of more than half a million dollars that quarter, with diminishing usage of the tunnel bus cited as a major reason.

The tunnel bus operates seven days a week on a short route between downtown Windsor and downtown Detroit, with about 20 stops split between Canada and the U.S.

The bus leaves Transit Windsor's downtown terminal on an hourly basis, travelling the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to cross the border.

Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie, who is vice-chair of Transit Windsor's board of directors, told CBC at the time that it's worth reviewing the service, given the budget pressures the municipality is dealing with.

"Not that transit necessarily needs to be a revenue-positive thing — It isn't, and we all know that," McKenzie said.

"But this particular aspect of the service, you certainly would want to get as close to revenue neutral as you can."

The service was paused for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the agency says ridership has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

The budget also calls for a transit fare increase of 3.23 per cent, expected to be implemented by April 2025.