Mayor Dilkens formally vetoes Windsor-Detroit tunnel bus

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Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has officially vetoed a council decision to save Canada’s only cross-border public transit service.

In a mayoral decision published on Thursday, Dilkens wrote that he was eliminating the tunnel bus to Detroit because it “acts as an economic development engine for the City of Detroit” at a time when Windsor and Canada are under “economic attack” by American President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

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In addition, council’s budget-time decision to increase tunnel bus fares from $10 to $20 each way — an attempt at bringing in more revenue — “will significantly undermine tunnel bus usage and lower total revenue,” Dilkens wrote.

On Jan. 27, city council voted 7-4 to maintain Transit Windsor’s tunnel bus service. The mayor’s budget proposed to eliminate the bus, which is heavily subsidized, as a cost-saving measure.

Council also voted to double tunnel bus fares.

Dilkens previously told the Star he would have left the tunnel bus alone if not for changes to Canada’s Labour Code enacted in 2022. The changes grant federally regulated employees 10 days of paid medical leave per year on top of existing benefits.

Because tunnel bus operators provide a service that crosses an international border, all of Transit Windsor’s roughly 300 employees fall within the scope of federal labour laws.

Those 10 added sick days mean the tunnel bus, which used to break even, now costs the city more than $1.4 million each year, the city has said.

Dilkens announced his intention to veto the council-majority decision to save the tunnel bus earlier this week.

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“The City of Windsor sees almost no economic activity originating from Detroit through this service,” Dilkens wrote in his mayoral decision on Thursday.

“While our cross-border bond with the City of Detroit remains strong and is important to us” amid Trump’s tariff threats, “as mayor, I cannot in good conscience have Windsor taxpayers subsidize transit service to a country that is threatening our livelihood.”

The tunnel bus collected around 84,000 fares in 2024, less than one per cent of all Transit Windsor fares for the year (9.6 million). On an average weekday, it collected 175 fares.

The vast majority of tunnel bus users travel from Windsor to Detroit and back, the mayor has said. Few Americans take the bus to Windsor.

In his mayoral decision to veto, Dilkens said the council-approved tunnel bus fare increase makes the service more expensive than driving a car to Detroit, including tolls and parking.

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“The expected revenue decrease will lead to a greater overall loss in the tunnel bus operation,” he wrote. “I acknowledge and appreciate city council’s attempt to increase revenue by raising the fare, however I sincerely believe this will further undermine the 2025 budget.”

No final date for the tunnel bus has been set. Earlier this week, Dilkens told reporters the city would give riders at least 30 days’ notice before tunnel bus operations cease.

City council has 15 days to override Dilkens’s veto with an 8-3 vote. That means one of the councillors who joined Dilkens in voting to kill the service — councillors Mark McKenzie (Ward 4), Ed Sleiman (Ward 5), and Jo-Anne Gignac (Ward 6) — would have to change his or her mind.

A regular meeting of city council is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m.

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