January 20, 2020 Council Mtg Item 10.1 - Additional info

A Costly Proposition: Will Windsor's new public transit plan improve accessibility to the County Road 42 hospital location, or is it an expensive plan that will encourage even more private vehicle use in the future?

Transit Windsor's master plan uses visionary language, but the new route design for transit service to the single site acute care hospital location on County Road 42 (CR42) is deeply flawed. There is little evidence suggesting direct routes and frequent bus service were considered a priority for routes to the proposed hospital location.

Rather than increasing public transit ridership, the new transit plan is likely to encourage more private vehicle use to the new hospital - Windsor's second-largest employer. This is because of the extreme distance to the CR42 location and the need to circumnavigate Windsor Airport from most Windsor neighbourhoods. Ensuring frequent service to the still-rural CR42 location will be costly, especially since the area is zoned for low-density housing. Will taxpayers and transit users be prepared to underwrite the new routes to CR42 in this plan?

• Only two of the four new routes created to service CR42 will offer bus service every 15 minutes during "peak" times. The other two routes will operate much less frequently during "peak" times - just twice an hour. Nights, weekends and holidays, these new routes will offer even less service. The majority of transit users will need at least one transfer to get to the CR42 location.

• No direct connections will run from the planned Ouellette site Urgent Care Centre (UCC) to CR42. There is also no direct connection from the UCC to Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Tayfour Campus (HDGH).

• Public transit will be an unattractive option for healthcare workers and volunteers who don't live along direct bus routes. Many of Windsor Regional Hospital's (WRH) 4,000+ healthcare workers, especially those living in neighbourhoods near Met Campus, walk to the hospital. How many will have to take more than one bus get to CR42, making public transit an unattractive option?

If the new hospital were to be located closer to where most people already live, the planned new public transportation system could provide better and more cost-effective reasons to take the bus.

Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Process windsormegahospital.ca January 20, 2020