We, the undersigned parents, caregivers, students, and residents, are calling on the GECDSB, the WECDSB, the City of Windsor, and the Province of Ontario to take urgent action on high school transportation in Windsor.

The problem

With the City moving ahead with cancelling the remaining extra student bus and shifting students onto regular routes, many Windsor high school students will face commutes that are longer, less reliable, and sometimes not workable starting in January — while students and families are still expected to pay for transit on top of it.

For many students, this change doesn’t simply mean “taking the bus.” It can mean multiple transfers, long walks in winter conditions, missed connections, being passed by full buses, and unpredictable delays. The result is lost learning time, chronic lateness, increased absenteeism, reduced participation in school life, stress and exhaustion and increased traffic pressure in school neighbourhoods as families scramble to drive.

Windsor is increasingly out of step with how other Ontario communities handle this. In many cities where public transit is a core way for students to get to school, school systems and municipalities treat transit as part of student transportation — often through special student-focused supports, such as dedicated school transit buses or free/board-funded transit passes. Many also define what “sufficient transit” means and provide transportation support when transit is not sufficient. Windsor families should not be asked to accept less.

We are asking for a clear plan and immediate action.

1) Keep the remaining extra bus running until the end of the school year while long-term solutions are implemented.

2)  Launch a transparent joint GECDSB/WECDSB student transportation review and report back publicly with changes by the end of the school year. At a bare minimum, school boards must define what “sufficient transit” means for students and commit to providing transportation support when transit is not sufficient.

We are also calling on the Province of Ontario to properly fund student transportation so boards can meet student needs without offloading costs to families.