A grassroots transit group is disputing Mayor Drew Dilkens record on transit in the city.
Activate Transit Windsor Essex released scorecards for municipal election candidates in Windsor on Tuesday, and as part of that announcement, took issue with comments Dilkens made to AM800 last month regarding his record on the transit file.
Organizer Gabriel Ciavaglia says Dilkens made misleading comments in regards to transit investment, specifically around the $8-million in funding added to the base budget in 2021.
He says that the increase for Transit Windsor went to covering costs of increased fuel prices and labour and maintenance increases, not towards actually increasing transit service or for route improvements.
Ciavaglia says they did a survey back in November and December of last year that showed people want more money being put towards service.
"We got a mandate from the community that increasing frequency and reliability of transit is kind of like the top issue, as well as accessibility," he continued. "Definitely something that advocates like ourselves and other members of the community are kind of asking for."
Ciavaglia says it was good to see the last term of council pass the Transit Master Plan, but they want to see transit made a priority.
He says when transit isn't a priority it has the biggest impact on the most vulnerable users who rely on transit to get around.
"We're just asking City Hall as a whole, and also the Mayor, to just be champions for transit. And actually implement the Master Plan and move forward with the improvements that the document lays out."
ATWE also drew attention to the fact that Windsor was the only city in Canada to completely shut down its transit service during the pandemic, which they say limited access to transportation for those who rely on the system.
Dilkens told AM800 the pandemic was a seismic event for every community that required the ability to pivot, and that the pandemic years weren't the time to put more money into the transit system when they were already behind $25-million dealing with the effects on tunnel and airport operations.
Ciavaglia says the shutdown went directly against recommendations from the local health unit and the unions, and that the decision stranded essential workers and people who relied on transit to get around.
He used the City of Ottawa as an example, where they reduced service at the beginning of the pandemic but returned to full service in June of 2020, whereas Windsor just went back to full service this September.
"It really just shows the priority of getting transit back to that full services where other cities recognized it as a very important component to the municipality and really prioritized getting it back to a full service scheduled. Because there are people in our community who 100 per cent rely on it," he said.
Activate Transit's scorecards for candidates can be found on their website, but the group says they didn't receive a response from Mayor Dilkens.
Dilkens is running for re-election against current Ward 4 councillor Chris Holt, Matthew Giancola, Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Ernie Lamont, and Louis Vaupotic.