Changes are being made to the way Transit Windsor is governed.
City council has approved a new governance model that will make Transit Windsor a full city department, an administrative change that will take effect on October 18, 2026.
As a result, the Transit Windsor Board of Directors will be discontinued as of October 18, and all aspects of Transit Windsor's operations will be governed by city council.
The bus service will fall under the Economic Development division.
The change also means that staff at Transit Windsor will become employees of the city, but they will continue to be recognized as members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 616 and its collective agreement.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens pointed out that the Transit Windsor board was created because of the tunnel bus service between Windsor and Detroit, which required federal incorporation and a separate board, but now that the city does not operate the tunnel bus anymore, it's unnecessary.
Dilkens says most people already think the city delivers transit service, but they didn't understand there was a separate board and structure that was set up only because of the tunnel bus service.
"There is no need to have this other layer when we can have all of city council; they're already accountable for it; they're already responsible for allocating the funding. Now they have complete control of the transit service in Windsor," he says.
The city ended the Transit Windsor tunnel bus service in August 2025, while the special events tunnel bus service between Detroit and Windsor ended in December 2025.
Ward 9 City Councillor Kieran McKenzie, the current chair of the Transit Windsor board, says the vote to make this change wasn't unanimous as he voted to maintain the status quo, but he respects the will of council.
"The board brings a lot of value to the conversation around transit and also, most importantly, brings an opportunity to be engaged in those conversations on a month-to-month basis because of the delegate system that's a part of the governance structure for the transit board as it is," he says.
McKenzie says there will still be transit issues that come through the city's Environment, Transportation, Public Safety standing committee and then on to council.
"There still is a framework where there is some reporting, but you're just not going to get that direct month-to-month scrutiny on the service, where we are, whatever issues might be popping up in the day-to-day service delivery. Those items won't be coming through the transit board any longer," he says.
The city says day-to-day operations remain unchanged.