Windsor’s improved West End Transit Terminal is officially open.
City officials including Mayor Drew Dilkens, along with Transit Windsor officials and Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie, celebrated the opening Tuesday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the upgraded site on Prince Road at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.
The upgrades include more bus bays, a dedicated bus operator facility, an extended bus platform, new passenger shelters, benches, and bicycle parking.
Dilkens says the terminal has undergone $3.7 million worth of improvements.
“With a new terminal building for the staff but also improved features for riders,” says Dilkens. “So three new bus bays, some accessibility features, and bicycle parking. It really is a major improvement. It allows us to put more throughput through is terminal, but it’s also a better experience for riders.
He says the west end terminal is basically a hub.
“All the buses who are driving through the west end will stop here for connections, and so having good facilities here, both for the drivers who will stop here for a period of time but also for the passengers in terms of accessibility, in terms of bike parking, and in terms of some of the other amenities that are here, it’s a big improvement,” he says. “It’s a $3.7 million addition plus more capacity to be able to handle more buses and assist.
Dilkens says the terminal was previously operating at the site with a smaller footprint.
He says there were fewer bays and didn’t have the building amenities.
“It was basically a West End terminal without all the features and amenities,” says Dilkens. “So thanks to Premier Ford and thanks to Gregor Robertson, the minister of communities and infrastructure for the Government of Canada, and through the ICIP funding, we were able to take city money, leverage that, and actually make a $3.7 million investment.”
The federal government invested $1.4 million towards the project, while the province invested $1.2 million.
The city contributed $1.1 million to the project.