B. Drouillard remarks this Plan is the best he has seen in decades.

The Chair states residents in the Devonshire Heights area do not utilize Transit Windsor as it’s too far to walk to the bus stop.

P. Delmore advises it is recommended in the Plan to hold a public consultation session annually. The following questions would be asked – how did it work, does it need to be tweaked, has ridership exceeded and do levels of service need to be increased. The second part would include discussion relating to plans for the upcoming year prior to the Council budget deliberations.

Councillor Bortolin notes the Plan will take 5 to 7 years to roll out and asks for next steps. P. Delmore responds as noted in the report to the Environment, Transportation & Public Safety Standing Committee, there was not an approved Plan to put forth requests to the 2020 Operating Budget. There have been early wins, however, one of the biggest complaints relates to Sunday bus service ending earlier, infrequent service, and adds ridership on a Sunday has increased exponentially.

Councillor Bortolin remarks that we’re looking 8 years out and earmarking capital dollars so as to increase the scope and to look at the garage and the investments needed in the garage. He expresses concern that the budget “asks” have not been articulated in the “first steps”. The garage project needs to happen before discussion of the bus routes and he questions if this is included in the 8 year Capital budget. P. Delmore responds the specific projects have not been included because currently, the Plan has not been approved. That being said, there are capital dollars that can be used for fleet replacement. The concept being pursued on the Plan is to utilize the Provincial and Federal grants to leverage the dollars that we do have in the 8 year Plan. There are other competing factors for grant dollars through the ICEP Program which includes Active Transportation and funding for roadwork if it connects directly to public transit.

Councillor McKenzie states information relating to the standard industry notion about a return on investment and what communities will receive for investing in the transit system is not included in the report. He asks if there are ways to quantify the return on the investment in terms of dollars. P. Delmore suggests this question be directed to Dillon Consulting.

Councillor McKenzie adds that an additional matrix in terms of sustainability is the impact on greenhouse gases by increased public transit use. P. Delmore responds that the Climate Action Plan addresses emission saved by newer fleets.

Moved by Councillor Bortolin, seconded by Councillor Holt,

That the Transit Windsor Master Plan BE RECEIVED, and that Administration BE REQUESTED to add what potential budget requests could be made in 2020 to expedite