Transit Windsor will spend about $20-million on a long list of projects that includes replacing some vehicles in its aging fleet.
Windsor's Senior Manager of Asset Planning Melissa Osborne says the city budgeted half of the money while the rest comes from a Federal Infrastructure Fund grant. She says the service badly needs to replace bus shelters and some of its older buses.
"We're looking at probably 24 buses in total," says Osborne. "Some of them are over 20-years-old."
About $12-million will go towards new buses.
A report first came to city council last spring, and knowing federal funding was expected; council supported the expenditure in principal. By turning over the fleet sooner, Transit Windsor hopes to save money spent on maintenance.
Funding will also towards encouraging active transportation. Some of the money will be spent to improve access to public transit by upgrading four bike trails.
"We'll actually be able to extend our cycling network and bring people directly to bus routes," Osborne says. "We hope that will help promote more people to start using transit. So cycle to a bus location and then take the bus to your final destination."
Those trails are on South Cameron from Totten Rd. to Northwood Ave. connecting to the Dominion 5 route. A trail on Little River Blvd. would connect to Transway 1A. Two trails, near Malden Rd. and Armada and near Kamloops St. would meet up with the South Windsor 7 route.