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Metrolinx: New GO and/or Regional Bus Terminal at 45 Bay

I completely agree, SeanTrans. They looked at just this kind of atrium redevelopment of the Dominion Public Building back in the 70s, and I think it's a great idea. It's the perfect spot for a bus terminal, as it's much more convenient to Union than the OPP site and it allows for the sharing of facilities. We're probably not looking at the need for a massive building, either, since intercity buses aren't really a growth industry and MoveOntario 2020 should see the replacement of a lot of Union-bound buses with trains.
 
For all the Metrolinx-bashing, the bits and pieces I've been seeing makes me cautiously optimistic that the concept of regional transit and transit planning is being brought, kicking and screaming, to the Toronto region.

But we still have to wait to see all the words result in real action, and that is where a lot of good things fall flat here.

And it's just too bad the name and website stink.
 
I've actually been really impressed with them, though I agree about the name and website. Canadian government agencies are just really bad at marketing. It's striking the difference between Canada and the UK. That aside, though, their ideas are sound. I just wish they'd be a bit pushier with the city. I don't want $10 billion of my tax dollars going to transit projects when the city won't even do a study of which mode is appropriate simply because a group of councillors have a fixation with a certain technology.
 
Now that 90 Harbour is off the table, one of the options for moving the Coach Terminal seems to be gone. Does anyone know if anything else if being proposed?
 
I think there is a bit of a debate whether the number of buses coming downtown will need to grow once all-day GO service is on more of the lines. Much of the buses coming downtown from a GO perspective only do so because the trains on those routes only run at rush hour.
 
The proposed terminal would have been for inter-city buses (Greyhound, Coach Canada, etc), not (necessarily) GO buses.
 
Even with all the great trains everywhere, I always see thousands coach buses on roads and clogging parking lots all over the place in Europe. I imagine that it is the same in Hong Kong or Japan.

I think that what's a lot more likely to happen is that as transit ridership increases, ridership increases on ALL modes across the system (though shifts are sure to occur within the system). Improved GO service to Oshawa or Brampton makes it more likely that people will consider taking a bus when they go to Owen Sound or Lindsay.

With the condition that the Toronto Coach Terminal is in, and how brutally unsuitable it is for modern coach buses, as well as the emphasis on making Union an inter-modal hub, I'm sure work is still underway to find a replacement.

90 Harbour was a terrible location anyway.
 
Since GO expands incrementally, more GO lines and more cities/stations served by GO will also mean more GO buses, for a few decades, at least (more than enough time to make a new terminal worthwhile).
 
I'm surprised GO/Metrolinx didn't try to partner in with one of the developers of one of the office towers that just went up around there (18 York I believe was one of them), to place a terminal underneath the tower (similar to what there is at York Mills stn, just on a larger scale). I personally think pairing it up with a future high-rise development is the way to go, because then it won't be a' waste' of prime real estate (by waste I mean putting what amounts to a 1 storey building on land that could potentially house a 50 storey building).
 
If only the plans for Union Station can be a bit less about penny pinching and more about planning for the extra long term...

AoD
 
I suspect the bus companies don't want to be located near Union or downtown at all any more. They don't really need to be there either.
 
How is 90 Harbour off the table? The government is selling the land, yes, but one of the conditions could be that an intercity terminal could be incorporated into the development for all we know.
 
Jonny5 said:
I suspect the bus companies don't want to be located near Union or downtown at all any more. They don't really need to be there either.
Click to expand...

Why do you say that they wouldn't want to be downtown? Business commuters, UofT/Ryerson students, regional tourists, and hospital and government visitors are their bread-and-butter business, and those folks all want to go downtown. There are bus terminals at Yorkdale and Scarborough Centre with coach service and I haven't seen any companies abandon downtown for those yet.
 
I moved to Ontario from Vancouver 8 yrs ago and I lived in a medium sized city. Go trains or buses didn't go to the city I lived in so I had to use a Coach Canada bus to get to Toronto, where I have lived for over 5 years now, and I always found the Coach Terminal at Dundas and Bay to be a poorly designed bus terminal in both its platforms and the location of having such an important transit station. I hope that they don't give up on the idea of moving the Coach Terminal into the new Union Station area. It would help us commuters very much having our inter-regional bus terminal near all the other transit infrastructure at one location. GO trains and buses, VIA trains, an Amtrack train, the Subway of course, more then the two streetcars that enter the station presently (I saw plans that had renderings of a larger streetcar loop that would accomodate even more streetcars entering this station), I would also like to see a TTC bus loop there as well to serve a few routes.

I hope the Presto Card takes off soon and we could use this fare mechanism on the TTC, GO, Coach Canada and maybe even VIA transit systems all at this one multi-modal transit hub. Hope the PATH system gets a bit of an investment as well- it compliments our transit system well.
 
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