The mayor of Windsor says some residents are pushing for an enhanced service of Transit Windsor while others like it the way it is during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the beginning of May, the city has been operating an enhanced Sunday level service at a cost of $125,000 per week and Drew Dilkens says if it was changed to an enhanced Saturday level service, it would cost $250,000 a week.
"We have to sort of work in harmony as the province works to reopen businesses, how can we scale up the transit system," says Dilkens. "So we're looking at that and looking at what the options are but certainly at some point, we're going to have to start charging fares again because we can't operate the system for free forever."
Right now, transit service is free and Dilkens says that’s in line with other transit systems across the country.
"Everyone is getting by, everyone is doing what they think they should be doing in municipalities to try and offer service to the residents but I'm sure there are some who think it should be enhanced and there are some saying it's fine the way it is,” says Dilkens.
He says the city has received some emails from transit users.
"Our issue is that the system and the routes that we have in place today, they're costing us about $125,000 a week, that's what we're losing every week running the system as it is today," says Dilkens. "If we were to move to what's known as the Saturday schedule which is a little bit enhanced from Sunday, the lost widens to about $250,000 a week."
Ridership is currently down by about 90 per cent and there is also a limit of 10 people on a bus to maintain 6 ft. of physical distancing.
The enhanced Sunday service was set to expire on May 31 after Transit Windsor was shut down for a month due to COVID-19, based on an order by the mayor.
As heard on AM800 news on Tuesday, the city extended the current level of service until June 21.