Bus Shortage in WIndsor

By Precious Alasa

For many St. Clair College students who take the bus, commuting to school is becoming a slow nightmare.

Some students feel there are not enough buses going to the main campus. While there are several buses that go to the college, many students, especially international students, use the Dominion five bus which takes the west route down to the South Windsor campus.

According to Iyonna Bagget, the bus, which is a 45-minute drive to the school from downtown, is usually filled with students and most of the students are left without a seat. Bagget, a pre-health pathway sciences student, said she has had her fair share of trouble riding the bus to school. The 19-year-old student suffers from anxiety and said it is really difficult to be in a crowded bus with people pushing themselves through and trying to find a comfortable standing position, but she has no choice but to take the public transit.

“I was late for work one day because there were so many people on the bus, but couldn’t see what stop I was at, and I got off way too early and had to walk an extra 20 minutes to work,” said Bagget.

According to Bagget, when the bus is full, the bus drivers sometimes advise other students at bus stops to wait for the next bus, while sometimes they just drive pass each stop without saying a word.

The pre-health student suggested that providing multiple buses, especially for the college students, would be a great way of fixing this bus shortage problem.

The bus schedule for Dominion 5, which also travels to the main campus is also a struggle for students. The bus comes once an hour and is sometimes inconsistent. Sometimes it comes in too early or too late.

“I think the bus company could be considerate of the college student and how many of us get on this bus every morning and how hard it is for it to be so packed and how it really does affect us,” Bagget said.

Ekene Ozonuwe is a 19-year-old business administration and accounting student who takes Dominion 5 regularly, but is not really affected by the shortage of the bus. According to Ozonowe, when the bus is full, the driver stop picking up passengers.

As much as this bus affects students, Ozonuwe said she feels the bus stop also determines if you will be affected by the bus shortage or not.

Despite Ozonuwe not being affected by this shortage, she still sees the need for more busses to be added because she witnesses the struggle of other students.

“It doesn’t really affect me because I stay close to the university and my bus stop is before Wyandotte and Campbell, where most students wait,” said Ozonuwe.

As students face this local transportation struggle, the government is not turning a blind eye to it. It has been widely reported that more than $100 million in federal and provincial funds have been allocated to Windsor transit to purchase more buses.