Essex Mayor Richard Meloche is hoping the town takes a closer look at public transit.
He'll be putting forward a notice of motion Monday evening asking council to direct administration to look at a transit service from Windsor to Colchester.
Meloche is hoping $60,000 is included in the 2023 budget for a consultant to prepare a document on the feasibility, funding, and operational process to secure public transit for a route from St. Clair College, up County Road 11.
He says the the route would include stops at Paquette Corners, McGregor, Harrow, and will travel down County Road 13 to Colchester for a last stop, and then back down the same corridor returning to St. Clair College.
Meloche says this is another step of becoming environmentally conscious.
"This is not saying we're absolutely going to move forward on this," he says. "It's just saying hey, let's put it in the budget and have some discussions at budget time in 2023."
Meloche says there's lots to do in the Colchester area.
"It opens up the doors for a lot of people in the City of Windsor to be able to get out there, enjoy the area, the beautiful beach that's there, a couple of the really nice restaurants that we have there and then maybe stay over night, one night and then home back home," says Meloche. "You got a one night outing that's just a bus ride away, that's a different world."
Public transit services are currently offered in Windsor, Tecumseh and LaSalle, and there is also a route that runs from Windsor to Leamington, with stops in Kingsville and Essex.
Meloche says the province is offering 'really good funding' to support transit.
"We all know that this is a win-win situation to try and have a bus line that goes up and down that route, hits three of our four major centres in the Town of Essex," says Meloche. "It gives kids an opportunity to get into the city without having to worry about where they're going to get their ride to get to school."
A new public transit service will start later this year in Amherstburg and last year, Lakeshore launched a Transit Feasibility Study.