School bus extras to be eliminated in Windsor, with buses reallocated by September

Windsor city council voted to eliminate school bus extras. CTV Windsor’s Sanjay Maru explains.

The City of Windsor is moving ahead with a plan to eliminate Transit Windsor’s school extra bus service

The nine school extra buses, currently dedicated to students at Riverside, St. Joseph’s, Vincent Massey and Holy Names secondary schools, help alleviate overcrowding on regular routes during peak school hours.

Despite a motion on Jan. 27 to defer the plan pending further discussions with school boards, council voted 7-4 against it, citing budget pressures and the need to improve the overall transit system.

By discontinuing these routes, the city plans to reassign the nine buses used for the service to increase frequency on other existing routes.

City officials say the plan also includes adding new fixed routes in Southwood Lakes and Devonshire Heights, contributing about 15,000 additional service hours.

In Southwood Lakes for instance, the only transit buses currently serving the area are the extra buses.

To address the gap left by eliminating the service, the city would extend the Dougall 6 route through the neighbourhood, renaming it Route 205.

During the Jan. 27 city council meeting, economic development commissioner Jelena Payne said the increased service hours mean most students won’t face longer travel times to school. However, she acknowledged individual circumstances may vary.

“There may be increases in travel time for students or the need to transfer buses. This is the difference between a regular transit system versus a specialized service,” said Payne.

In response to a question from Coun. Kieran McKenzie about potential impacts on high school students in Devonshire Heights and Remington Park traveling to Vincent Massey or Holy Names, Payne said their travel time could increase by 25 to 30 minutes.

A map presented by city administration during the council meeting showed the new Route 205 does not connect directly to Holy Names.

It shows students in Southwood Lakes heading to Holy Names would need to transfer to Route 115, the former Dominion 5, to reach their school.

Administration noted all ridership locations would remain within a two-kilometre radius of a bus stop under the new plan.

In a follow-up email to CTV News, Payne said the map is part of ongoing analysis by city administration and is not final.

School board officials present at Monday’s budget meeting but not permitted to speak, expressed disappointment with council’s decision.

“It would’ve been nice to have further dialogue and consultation, working with the city administration to see what we could do to think of what’s better for our students and their families,” said Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board director of education Emelda Byrne.

“These are Windsor citizens that are riding buses every day: 14, 15, 16, and 17 year olds.”

Her counterpart at the Greater Essex County District School Board said she is concerned about students and parents who may not learn about the change until the first day of school.

“I’m sure some parents and some students aren’t even aware that this was coming forward,” said GECDSB Director of Education Vicki Houston.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that they’ll realize the impact until ... there isn’t a bus available to pick their child up.”

The school boards estimate that about 650 students rely on the school extra buses daily.

The elimination of school extra buses goes into effect in Sept. 2025.