Transit Windsor goes on a hiring spree, builds new shelters, and adds new routes
Transit Windsor is on a hiring spree as it tries to drive an increase in ridership with new buses, high-tech passenger shelters, and an express route that started Tuesday.
“This is a result of both growth and retirement,” executive director Tyson Cragg said of the hiring binge. “As a result of what’s gone on during the pandemic, we were in a bit of lull for hiring for a while because we were running a reduced service. Now that we’re back to full service and we’ve added additional service, including the 518X that started today, we need some drivers.”
With the city already in the midst of a plan to buy 24 buses and nearing the completion of a five-year process to install 203 new shelters, Transit Windsor is hoping to hire 23 new drivers by November.
Operator wages range from $23.42 to $31.25 an hour. Experience is not required.
“What we want is exemplary customer service experience,” said Cragg. “People who have provided frontline customer service in the past, whether it be retail or restaurants. We find those people are the most effective at providing great service. We train them how to drive the bus. So you come in with a G licence and we get you up to the appropriate licence class.”
The development of new bus routes is part of the reason for the hiring initiative. The City council will soon be asked to prioritize another new route, the 418X, which will provide service on Tecumseh Road and connect Tecumseh Mall, the new Lancer Centre, and the west-end terminal.
And the 518X express from Tecumseh Mall to St. Clair College started Tuesday.
“This is about the closest thing since the streetcar days to rapid transit that Windsor has seen,” said Cragg. “It really is the definition of that. It’s a three-stop route. It utilizes the expressway, which is a great asset we have in Windsor. It cuts the travel time from the east end of Windsor to St. Clair College from over an hour and a half down to less than 30 minutes. So it’s a substantial time savings in getting from A to B.”
The express route is one of the key components of Transit Windsor’s Transit Master Plan to double hours of service and ridership over the next decade. Council approved the ambitious plan in early 2020, just prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic which hammered ridership.
Transit Windsor has also been investing heavily in new assets and equipment.
The city is moving ahead with the purchase of 24 new buses over the next 12 months. Funding from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program will pay for about three-quarters of the $17 million cost. Those buses are in addition to the 19 new ones that went into operation last year.
Since 2017, Transit Windsor has installed 203 new bus shelters. That includes upgrading 142 existing shelters while adding dozens more.