Windsor-Detroit tunnel bus service expected to resume if border restrictions lift

When will the tunnel bus get rolling? With the use of ArriveCan to become optional, what will it mean for Windsor’s tunnel bus? CTV Windsor's Chris Campbell explains.

According to Transit Windsor, Tunnel Bus service to Detroit is expected to resume should the federal government lift its COVID-19 vaccine border requirements on Sept. 30.

That includes the mandatory use of the ArriveCan application.

“Those are our primary impediments for running the tunnel bus,” said Tyson Cragg, executive director of Transit Windsor. “Obviously ArriveCan and mandatory vaccination for re-entry into Canada.”

When COVID-19 testing requirements at the border were eliminated in April, Transit Windsor announced it would keep its Tunnel Bus service idled due to the ArriveCan app still needing to be filled out by passengers before they could be permitted entry into Canada.

“So assuming those conditions or restrictions are lifted, it would allow us to return the tunnel bus back to operation,” Cragg said.

“It sounds quite exciting for us to get back to providing that service. A very unique service in North America. There's no other transit agency on the continent that provides a similar service to it. So it does mean a lot to us.”

Windsor resident Christopher Baldwin told CTV News it would be great to see the bus running again.

“I think it's time to bring it back,” he said. “Maybe go watch a baseball game or even just a concert downtown.”

Jillian Baldwin agreed, noting many utilize the service when they go to Detroit.

“I think it absolutely should be back,” she said. “It's just a wonderful way to go to baseball games, hockey games. Yeah! Absolutely bring it back!”

“We've definitely missed it,” said Lynnette Bain, vice-president of destination development with Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island.

Bain told CTV News that soon couldn’t come soon enough for the bus to resume service, explaining its absence since the pandemic’s onset has delayed the region’s return to normalcy.

“It just really reduces that spontaneity, that level of spontaneity when people are maybe visiting Detroit internationally and they want to have a two-nation destination experience,” Bain added. “We know that COVID will be around for years and we're dealing with that on the health side. But on the life side, people are getting back to normal. They want to cross the border freely.”

“There's some planning that we need to do.”

Meanwhile, Cragg suggested it could still take a couple of months for service to start again, assuming the federal government drops border restrictions at the end of September.

He said it's an administratively and technically complex service to run because it requires approval and participation from various regulatory authorities.

“It's going to take us some time to get people trained and orientation, contact made with CBP and CBSA,” Cragg explained. “Just to make sure that everybody is on the same page in terms of us resuming.”

“We don't want to rush the resumption of it. We want to do it properly. We want to get people trained. So I would say in terms of resumption, you're probably looking at some time in November.”