Tecumseh Transit

[MaT]

TECUMSEH -- A proposal to launch a bus service which is expected to cost the town about $237,500 in 2010 was approved Tuesday, subject to a detailed agreement being finalized with the lowest bidder.

Annual grants of about $178,000 are expected, leaving a net cost to the town of about $59,000, said administrator Tony Haddad.

Fare revenue and advertising could reduce that cost further.

Transit Windsor elected not to bid for the bus service after proposals were called Oct. 29, Haddad told council.

The town received five proposals to provide the service with First Students Canada coming in lowest, Haddad said.

A final agreement on the bus service is expected for council’s Dec. 8 meeting.

Haddad said the bus service could be in operation in January.

First Students Canada is a large Canadian company based in Barrie, Haddad said.

Mayor Gary McNamara said that Tecumseh “wanted to get it started” rather than wait for a County of Essex study on busing.

The Tecumseh bus route will come close to the City of Windsor boundary in several locations, although there isn’t a transfer agreement to connect to city buses, McNamara said.

© Copyright © The Windsor Star

Tecumseh Bids and tenders

One Cutaway Style Diesel Powered Community Transit Bus

Description:

The Corporation of the Town of Tecumseh (Town) is seeking quotes to supply and deliver one Cutaway Style Diesel Powered Community Transit Bus.

Date Closes:

11/26/2009 14:00

[Downsview 108]

Tons of used GM's to get started.

[MaT]

Ya eh? I thought they would have gotten a few buses(even 30ft) instead of one. What's gonna happen when this"bus" needs work done, what's going to fill in for it I wonder? And in my opinion, it's going backwards by not connecting with Transit Windsor. Tecumseh mall would be great for Tecumseh transit to connect with Windsor.(Also a great destination for shopping)

And finally my last little tidbit..I wonder if it will be called Tecumseh Transit or if it will "go local" and call it Transit Tecumseh haha.

$0.02

[TheAverageJoe]

Ya eh? I thought they would have gotten a few buses(even 30ft) instead of one. What's gonna happen when this"bus" needs work done, what's going to fill in for it I wonder? And in my opinion, it's going backwards by not connecting with Transit Windsor. Tecumseh mall would be great for Tecumseh transit to connect with Windsor.(Also a great destination for shopping)

And finally my last little tidbit..I wonder if it will be called Tecumseh Transit or if it will "go local" and call it Transit Tecumseh haha.

$0.02

If the bus needs work they will just use a first student school cuttaway bus

[MaT]

If the bus needs work they will just use a first student school cuttaway bus

You think so? How would they collect the fares? I know they would just ask to be let off at the next stop, but the fares part is what gets me..Because I thought of that too.

[Guest HAMILTON BUS]

wait they want to use school buses?? im confused.. they want to use school buses for a public transit agency. First Student Canada down here in Hamilton is a school bus agency

[Downsview 108]

Not uncommon as Milton transit and even YRT has school buses. Not good for business though.

Not uncommon as Milton transit and even YRT has school buses. Not good for business though.

[MaT]

No no, what they have on order is a transit(ex- a ford like TW has) cutaway. We were just wondering what they would do if that bus was out for work or something and couldn't be used in service.

[Articulated]

Not uncommon as Milton transit and even YRT has school buses. Not good for business though.

Not uncommon as Milton transit and even YRT has school buses. Not good for business though.

YRT had school buses in the VERY early days, which were from pre-amalgamation agencies and the contractor of those agencies (Laidlaw). IIRC they were gone by 2003.

Either way, they were only used on high school specials.

[Aztek985]

Dang, I was hoping they would have bought a real bus and actually tried to get people to ride it.

[GRT 9401]

Wtf, Windsor is starting to use transit now? So your saying there was no transit available in Windsor until now?

[Felix]

Wtf, Windsor is starting to use transit now? So your saying there was no transit available in Windsor until now? wacko.gif

What are you talking about? Tecumseh is a suburb east of Windsor.

[TC60102N]

You think so? How would they collect the fares?

How hard could it possibly be to transfer a Diamond farebox from one school bus to another ? I am sure Leamington Transit does the same when niether the Orion 1 or the Cutaway are able to be used.

[dj.surf.lfs]

YRT had school buses in the VERY early days, which were from pre-amalgamation agencies and the contractor of those agencies (Laidlaw). IIRC they were gone by 2003.

Either way, they were only used on high school specials.

I thought YRT still used cutaway school buses for 40 and 41 during evening hours.

[Articulated]

I thought YRT still used cutaway school buses for 40 and 41 during evening hours.

Wow, mindfart on my part. Yup, YRT contracts out for those small school buses during the late evening.

On a related note, for the Markham Fair shuttle this year (not operated by YRT, done by LPTC) school buses were used and had little wooden fareboxes that I'm sure must be fairly easily removed - the school buses did their regular afternoon school runs on Thurs/Fri between shuttle runs.

[MaT]

Ok, I never knew you could put a farebox in a schoolbus. Thanks.

[MaT]

Ok I just got some more info about Tecumseh Transit.

Until they get they're cutaway in march, they're using Tecumseh Senior's Transit 30ft BlueBird. They actually redid it so it says Tecumseh Transit Inc instead of Tecumseh Senior's Transit. The route, schedule and fares can be found Here. There's a pic of what the bus will look like when they get it in too. The route goes from around 6AM to around 6PM and takes around 30 minutes for a round trip. The bus is free until January 31st too, so I'm hoping to go try it out.

[2044]

Ok I just got some more info about Tecumseh Transit.

Until they get they're cutaway in march, they're using Tecumseh Senior's Transit 30ft BlueBird. They actually redid it so it says Tecumseh Transit Inc instead of Tecumseh Senior's Transit. The route, schedule and fares can be found Here. There's a pic of what the bus will look like when they get it in too. The route goes from around 6AM to around 6PM and takes around 30 minutes for a round trip. The bus is free until January 31st too, so I'm hoping to go try it out.

Do you know what model Blue Bird it is? Also thanks for creating the wiki page.

[MaT]

From the Windsor Star(March 17th, 2010)

Tecumseh bus service running on empty

It can be a lonely job driving Tecumseh's municipal bus.

Nancy Gauvin, who's been a bus driver for various services since 1999, says the Tecumseh residents she's met are friendly.

She'd like to meet more of them.

In the first month of paid service in February, average daily ridership for the Tecumseh-only service was 17.

That's not enough to fill even one 24-passenger bus per day.

Gauvin is one of several drivers guiding the single bus on a half-hour loop through the town's busiest commercial district and most densely populated urban area, along major roads like Tecumseh, Manning and Lesperance.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the bus makes 24 loops each day, six days a week, holidays excepted. With the warmer weather recently, many people can be seen walking, riding bikes and in vehicles. But not many are waiting at any of the 25 bus stops.

The Star spent two hours riding the bus over two days recently, but failed to meet up with a single one of Tecumseh's elusive bus passengers.

Three teens would have boarded the bus at Tecumseh arena, but didn't have exact change and couldn't get on.

During March break, friends Jake Radford, Austin Tremblay and Cody Esipu were handing out flyers for Loc-Rite Design Group and the bus would have been handy to get to another location.

They say they've used the bus occasionally.

Fares are $2 for adults, $1.50 for seniors and $1 for students. Children under five, war veterans and the disabled ride free. The bus can take wheelchairs.

The town approved a three-year contract last November with First Students Canada to provide the service at an annual cost of $237,500. A new 24-passenger bus is on order at a cost of almost $100,000.

Administrator Tony Haddad said the town would get $180,000 in annual provincial grants to defray the cost of the bus service. The town never expected to make a profit on bus service, says Haddad. Every municipality subsidizes its service to some degree, he adds.

At the western edge of its service, the Tecumseh bus almost touches the border with Windsor along Southfield Drive and again near Tecumseh arena, but there's no transfer agreement with Transit Windsor.

Gauvin said she's heard passengers mention they'd like to go farther into Windsor. "That's what a lot of our customers are saying."

Transit Windsor director Penny Williams said Tecumseh has to deal directly with city council on the issue of getting its bus into Windsor.

"That's going to be a political decision, not an administrative decision," Williams said.

Transit Windsor had some preliminary discussions with Lakeshore and Tecumseh about regional transit years ago, Williams said.

The talks didn't go far enough to address routes through the three municipalities that would make sense, Williams said. Transit Windsor didn't put in a bid for Tecumseh's service when tenders were called last October.

At a recent Tecumseh meeting, councillors approved sending a motion to Essex County asking that the issue of Tecumseh's bus service be put on the agenda for the next joint meeting of city and county councils.

Some councillors also talked about making some route changes in hopes of adding passengers.

"I don't see too many people on it, (the bus)," said Coun. Guy Dorion. He also suggested a route change that would take in Brighton Road, near the border with Lakeshore. Residents along Brighton have quite a walk to the nearest bus stop, said Dorion.

"I don't want to incur any more cost at this point," said Deputy Mayor Tom Burton. He said the key to increased ridership was getting to popular spots outside town limits.

"We have to get into Windsor," said Burton. In January, Tecumseh threatened some sort of legal action to get its bus into Windsor.

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis said then Tecumseh councillors were "dreamers" and doing some political posturing. He didn't think there was any way Tecumseh could get around the legislation that governs public transit in Windsor.

Haddad said the message is clear that the city wants to wait for Essex County's transit study to provide some direction on how regional transit could be developed.

The first draft of the study is expected to be released at county council's first meeting in April. Discussions could go on for months.

In the meantime, the bus will be a Tecumseh-only service connecting its town hall, the arena, some of the major parks, outdoor pool, two golf courses, several churches and shopping plazas.

Gauvin is looking forward to big crowds for such major events as the Tecumseh Cornfest at Lacasse Park and wine festival in the new waterfront park. As the service becomes better known, she's hoping to meet more of Tecumseh's residents. Some have become regulars already, she says.

[DavidW]

Anyone happen to catch a picture of Tecumseh Transit (2010)? I get the feeling it might evaporate before too long...

[BusMaxx]

From the Windsor Star(March 17th, 2010)

Transit Windsor had some preliminary discussions with Lakeshore and Tecumseh about regional transit years ago, Williams said.

The talks didn't go far enough to address routes through the three municipalities that would make sense, Williams said. Transit Windsor didn't put in a bid for Tecumseh's service when tenders were called last October.

"I don't see too many people on it, (the bus)," said Coun. Guy Dorion. He also suggested a route change that would take in Brighton Road, near the border with Lakeshore. Residents along Brighton have quite a walk to the nearest bus stop, said Dorion.

"We have to get into Windsor," said Burton. In January, Tecumseh threatened some sort of legal action to get its bus into Windsor.

In the meantime, the bus will be a Tecumseh-only service connecting its town hall, the arena, some of the major parks, outdoor pool, two golf courses, several churches and shopping plazas.

Gauvin is looking forward to big crowds for such major events as the Tecumseh Cornfest at Lacasse Park and wine festival in the new waterfront park. As the service becomes better known, she's hoping to meet more of Tecumseh's residents. Some have become regulars already, she says.

After reading the whole article over, and having made many trips to windsor and tecumseh over the years, my thinking is that for Tecumseh Transit to survive, would be to, at least, make a connection with Transit Windsor, and run into Lakeshore. Having driven all over the region, a viable transit option would easily be feasible, and workable.

EG, a route that went from Downtown windsor to Harrow, connecting with a local bus in LaSalle, Amherstburg, etc.... and a similar route to Belle River, with local routes......... get what i mean??? Regional services are completely feasible anywhere, so long as politicians can come together for their constituents.......

[MaT]

Tecumseh's 'bus to nowhere' coming to Windsor

Provincical board dismisses Windsor's objections

WINDSOR, Ont. — The Ontario Highway Transport Board has approved the town's application to connect its bus service to stops inside the City of Windsor.

Transit Windsor objections to Tecumseh's expanded service were dismissed by the board.

"The bus to nowhere now has some direction," Deputy Mayor Tom Burton said at Tuesday's council meeting.

He said the town should now be trying to work out an arrangement for Windsor and Tecumseh residents to transfer from bus to bus without additional charges.

"Transit Windsor has no existing service that will suffer any impact from the granting of this application," said transport board chairman Gary Stanley in the written decision. "Windsor has provided no statistical data to show any negative impact."

Windsor residents and Transit Windsor might even benefit from the connection with Tecumseh's improved service, Stanley said.

Transit Windsor had argued that one of its routes provided the service Tecumseh was seeking, but the board dismissed that contention as "without merit."

Mayor Gary McNamara said he hopes the decision will accelerate discussions with Transit Windsor about additional routes that make sense for residents of both municipalities.

Tecumseh is also planning to review its current bus routes and rate structure, including a response to a complaint that the handicapped are charged an extra fare for someone assisting them, which isn't done in other municipalities.

In an interview, McNamara said the town now has to negotiate with private property owners in Windsor for the new bus stops along Tecumseh Road and Tecumseh Mall.

McNamara noted the County of Essex has agreed to move forward on a regional transit plan with early emphasis on routes eastward from Windsor to Tecumseh and Lakeshore as well as south to Amherstburg.

However, McNamara said he hasn't heard of much progress recently from those discussions. He'll be referring the transport board decision to the county to help move discussion along.

The board found Transit Windsor wasn't currently providing a similar service to Tecumseh's heavily populated northern core, and any future plans to do so hinged on the unknown progress of the regional transit plan.

"The board cannot deny this application based upon a possible future negative economic impact to another carrier," Stanley said.

The board granted Tecumseh the necessary public vehicle operating licence to take its single bus into Windsor even though the town conceded it's not breaking even on the cost.

"Tecumseh admits that this operation will not be self-sufficient but it is the town's intent to underwrite the loss in order to provide this much needed service to its citizens," Stanley said.

"Therefore, after reviewing all of the evidence, the board is of the opinion that the issuance of the public vehicle operating licence will service public necessity and convenience and grants the application as applied for."

© Copyright © The Windsor Star

[TheAverageJoe]

hopefully this helps builds ridership

[MaT]

Just a small update on whats going on...

Tecumseh Transit goes to Tecumseh Mall now. I dont know where they stop at the mall(I still have to go check), but passengers get a free ride if they have a valid Transit Windsor transfer. As for transferring to TW, im not sure how they have it set up, but im gonna guess that you have to pay the full fare.

Also of note I updated the Tecumseh Transit wiki with more info.

[MaT]

Well I rode the bus today. Not a bad route really. Sure it goes all over the place(now its a one hour trip instead of 30 minutes), but it goes through basically every corner of Tecumseh, which is a good thing. On my trip we picked up between 8 and 10 people, including me. This is the first week that TT goes to Tecumseh Mall too so it'll take a bit to settle in. Not bad at all for a start though. At Tecumseh Mall you catch the bus at the bus terminal near the entrance to go to Dollarama. And the transfer policy is Transit Windsor > Tecumseh Transit = Free ride with TW transfer.....Tecumseh Transit > Transit Windsor = pay full fare. I dont know the policy on dropping off passengers(the only TT stop in Windsor is at Tecumseh Mall)..But here and there TT will drop off passengers at Tecumseh/Forest Glade for people to catch the 1C going into Forest Glade. It would be neat if there was a policy(Dont know if there is already) like what DDOT/SMART have. Something like this... Tecumseh Transit can only drop off passengers in Windsor except for Tecumseh Mall where pick ups can be made. And Transit Windsor riders can only board Tecumseh Transit at Tecumseh Mall to continue their trip. I also forgot to mention that Bus # 1(the bluebird CS) is the back up bus now, while 2(the cutaway) is the main bus.