Some skilled trades workers say transit is not working for them

Some skilled trade workers say it's a struggle to get transit to work for them.

"I would challenge [Transit Windsor staff] to try and get to a factory using Windsor Transit at six or seven in the morning," said Marius Gligor, a machine operator with a manufacturing company. "Good luck to you."

Gligor largely relies on cars to get to and from work every day.

"I have to take a taxi from my house to my friend's house and then I have to catch a ride from there to work," he says. "On the way home I get dropped off here at [Tecumseh Mall] and then I have to take a bus home."

Another rider, granite fabricator Nate Hope, says his family got rid of one of their cars six years ago to try and save money, but with prices rising, "there's only so much that you can squeeze out of a rock."

Hope, who previously volunteered with the city's transit committee and currently with Activate Transit Windsor Essex, admits he doesn't know where he can save more money and that Transit Windsor is making things worse.

"The bus fare for [a] Windsor bus is almost as much as a [Toronto Transit Commission fare] and it's not even half as good," he said. [We] don't have a subway system. So, why is it that much money?"

A single Transit Windsor fare costs $3.15 for anyone over the age of 12.

In Toronto, a non-PRESTO TTC fare costs $3.35 for adults between the ages of 20-64. Youth riders aged 13-19 are charged $2.40 and seniors aged 65 or older are charged $2.30. The fares apply to buses, streetcars and the subway.

Another issue Hope sees is overcrowding.

"If schools [are] just getting out, they're really crowded," says Hope, who takes route 3 to and from work. "It doesn't matter which route you take, there's going to be crowding."

Hope said that when buses are full, they could pass the stop he is at without stopping, extending his commute.

And for Hope, who does not have the option to work from home, his commute could get worse.

"My boss was talking about possibly moving where the location is to a spot that's more spacious for him," he said, acknowledging it as a positive. "But at the same time, it would really impact my bus route."

"It would change my route from being a 10-15 minute bus ride to a 50-minute to an hour bus ride."

Gligor faces a similar accessibility concern. For him, who usually starts work at 6 a.m., there's no alternative yet.

"If I try to take a bus, I can't get to work until after 8:30 every morning," says Gligor.

Transit Windsor CEO Tyson Cragg told the city's Environment, Transportation and Public Safety Standing Committee in February that ridership has increased 114 per cent since 2019.

Transit Windsor's annual report from 2022 states that Transit Windsor seems "well-positioned to continue into 2023 with a strong recovery" while other transit agencies in the province "continue to struggle with ridership recovery due to the emergence of remote work".

But for workers in the skilled trades such as Hope and Gligor, where workers have to be on-site, they feel they're being ignored.

"It's not an accessible location; it's in more of an industrialized area," said Hope, referring to the potential new location of his workplace. "There's no bus route that goes through there. The big part of that commute would be me needing to walk from the bus stop to work. It would also be for me walking from one bus route transferring to another."

Transit Windsor doing what they can, executive director says

In response to Hope's concerns with overcrowded buses, Cragg said Transit Windsor has "every available resource on the road" to lessen the load.

"We have been experiencing an extremely high ridership recovery that has exceeded our expectations and our ridership is currently well above the provincial average," he said in an email.

Cragg also said transit service is forecasted to increase by 12.2 per cent by January 2024 and that their fares will have only increased by four per cent in that timeframe.

"From an affordability perspective, Transit Windsor, with city council's support, has worked diligently to increase service while keeping fare increases (two per cent per year) well below the rate of inflation," he said in the same email.

As for increasing hours, Cragg says Transit Windsor is not at a point where it can offer 24-hour service.

"For every additional hour added to the service day, the annual cost system-wide would be approximately $2.2 million," he said. "Public transit by its nature cannot be all things to all people and during low ridership periods the extension of service comes at a significant cost, which must be approved through the budget process."