Tunnel bus wheels will be rolling Nov. 27 for day trippers, commuters after more than 2-year pause
Service was suspended since March 2020
Transit Windsor's cross-border Tunnel Bus service is set to resume on Nov. 27, but the city is asking that only day-trippers and commuters use the service for now.
The Tunnel Bus route, which crosses from downtown Windsor into downtown Detroit, has been suspended since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Even when the border reopened to fully vaccinated travellers, the City of Windsor said the service could not operate due to COVID-19 border travel restrictions that were in place such as testing and the ArriveCAN form submission.
Shortly after the ArriveCAN app requirement was dropped in September, Transit Windsor said it would resume the service.
In a news release from the City of Windsor Thursday, it said there will be one bus running the route and it will run on a one-hour frequency with the first bus leaving the Windsor International Transit Terminal at 6 a.m. and the last bus from Detroit returning at 9:41 p.m. Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, the bus will run from 8 a.m. to 7:41 p.m.
The new hours of operation and limited frequency means the bus "will not accommodate special events at this time," the city said.
"While the Tunnel Bus service was paused over the past two-plus years, most of the calls we received were from commuters and students, telling us that the absence of the service was making commuting to downtown Detroit challenging," said Transit Windsor Executive Director Tyson Cragg in a news release.
"We are delighted to be able to resume the downtown commuter service to assist these riders."
Transit Windsor said in the release that is "strongly encourages anyone attending a concert or sporting event across the border to find other transportation."