When it comes to crossing the U.S./Canadian border here in Detroit, if you’re a pedestrian or on a bike, there aren’t very many – if any – good options.
Unless you’re willing to break the law like this intrepid Steely Dan concertgoer who’s kind of our hero around the office today, you can’t bike through the tunnel. His actions meant he was detained for two hours for questioning but still made the concert. And the Ambassador Bridge isn’t friendly either.
Until the late 1930s there were actually ferries that went across the river to our Canadian neighbors (or neighbours), but since then the connections between our cities and countries have been car- or truck-driven.
Every year or two, there’s some hopeful news article about ferry service planning to return the next year or the year after, but like many things that require cooperation in Detroit, failure almost always springs eternal.
Now Transit Windsor, says the Windsor Star, has a plan to bring a little bit of bike-friendliness to our border crossing by adding the ability for folks to bring their bikes. Customs officials on either side are fine with the plan. Per the Star:
Final approval by city council, likely to occur on Oct. 3, is the next step for Transit Windsor to proceed with an application to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to carry bikes through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, said Carolyn Brown, the city’s corporate leader of transportation.
All municipal buses are already equipped with bike racks, but the transportation ministry’s permission is required to allow bikes to travel attached to the front of the bus through the border crossing, she said.
“It’s subject to council approval, then it will be a standard application to the ministry,” Brown said. “They review it, we pay a small fee and we should be good to go.”
This could be a small but exciting win for those who are for a region that is friendlier to bikes.
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