Windsor’s west end gets new bus terminal

By Joyce St. Antoine

The Hotel Dieu- Grace Healthcare is welcoming a new transit bus terminal to accommodate people in Windsor’s West end.

Moving from College Ave., the terminal is planned to be located on Prince Road.

On March 8, the public had the opportunity to share their feedback in a meeting regarding the options. Several people shared their opinions, some positive and some negative with concerns.

Councillor of Ward 2, John Elliott said, “Be careful what you ask for, because you might not have anything in the end. People want what they want and we can’t please everybody so the end result is if you don’t want it, there might not be a transfer station here anymore, but it is far from a done deal,” said Elliott.

“Infrastructure is always a challenge to move people around who do not have cars. The system needs to be better, especially for long term plans but this is just a small part,” said Pat Delmore, Executive Director of Transit Windsor, who said four bus routes rather than two would be ideal.

“They will have a waiting area inside the hospital to wait, and there is an access of the cafeteria for coffee. Currently the terminal is just a parcel of land and few shelters,” said Delmore. “But there were negative comments, mainly concerns of the idling or fumes of the buses in the residential area.”

A long process is still to come on the preparation and plans, but over the coming months more public meetings will be hosted.

“We are in the very early and beginning stages, board directors at the hospital approved to discuss with us and City Council agreed to have discussions with the Hospital,” said Delmore. “Currently we are in the process of planning how it would look like, as if the location is permanent.”

“It’s a lengthy process, and we believe that the assessment portion will be done by the end of this year. And that means construction won’t begin until 2019. We are anticipating some major changes for the growth of the City,” said Delmore.

The public is encouraged to voice their opinion as the year goes on by visiting the Transit Windsor’s website.