News   May 08, 2024
'Equinox Bridge' Selected to Span Port Lands' Keating Channel
 1K     1 
News   May 08, 2024
Government Funding Fuelling Toronto's FIFA World Cup Dreams
 1.1K     1 
News   May 08, 2024
Masterplanned Community Proposed at Hwy 7 and Martin Grove in Vaughan
 2.8K     3 

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

How about a new bus terminal built at the soon to be vacated food terminal on the Queensway. Its close to major highways and transit and also close enough to downtown, it would also be close to one of the rumoured sites for a future NFL stadium ( Christies bread plant) it can all work in this upcoming neighbourhood.
 
CDL.TO said:
You're entitled to your opinion in support of cutting funding to transit facilities, but I must disagree. I think funding public transportation is a good thing.
Click to expand...

This is about the private bus lines terminal west of Bay north of Dundas. With GO transit, a government operation providing suburban transfer points which can be used to access the city, there isn't much point paying for a bus terminal that supports private companies. The GO buses have the sense to schedule their buses to meet the trains so I don't see any reason why tax dollars would pay for private buses to go downtown on the congested roads of the city to a bus station when government buses meet trains as much as possible.
 
EnviroTO said:
This is about the private bus lines terminal west of Bay north of Dundas. With GO transit, a government operation providing suburban transfer points which can be used to access the city, there isn't much point paying for a bus terminal that supports private companies. The GO buses have the sense to schedule their buses to meet the trains so I don't see any reason why tax dollars would pay for private buses to go downtown on the congested roads of the city to a bus station when government buses meet trains as much as possible.
Click to expand...

The Toronto Coach Terminal does not solely service private bus lines. Ontario Northland, a provincial crown corporation, also operates out of it. Toronto is not the destination for all intercity bus traffic that passes through the downtown terminal. A London to Kingston trip would be made much more lengthy, uncomfortable, and all around inconvenient (not to mention more expensive) if passengers had to transfer to GO and back while going through the GTA. If you were taking the bus out to Halifax, would you want to switch over to local commuter transit through Montreal? Probably not.

Intercity bus companies provide a valuable service to communities beyond GO Transit's service area, including many small communities that have no other non-automobile connections to Toronto. A passenger from Pembroke, for example, does not want a bus ticket to Oshawa. They want to get to Toronto as quickly and conveniently as possible. Take Greyhound or Coach Canada out of the equation, and you'll probably see more cars and congestion on Toronto's highways. Governments, both municipal and provincial, have a vested interest in the services provided by private bus lines. We already force them to service many communities that would not be profitible. I think we can handle the cost of one bus terminal when it allows for mass transit connections that would not otherwise exist.

I lived in Peterborough for four years before GO finally started servicing our city. In the time prior to that, private bus lines were our only non-automobile connection to the outside world. If Greyhound didn't service downtown directly, fewer people in Peterborough would have come to Toronto to spend money, visit family and friends, etc. Intercity buses do far more to reduce congestion on the GTA's roads and highways than add to them and bring people into the city to inevitibly spend money and support local business. A downtown terminal also makes intercity travel much more convenient for Torontonians. It is far more convenient for me to take my luggage on a short ride to the Bay St. terminal than it is to lug it all the way up to STC, or all the way down to Union and out to Oshawa when I go to visit my friends out in Peterborough.
 
Just to stir the pot, why not dynamically toll Toronto's municipal highways (and maybe the 427) and convert HOV lanes to reduce congestion for buses entering downtown? Tolls could then partially subsidize GO's operations and the reduced traffic would benefit all carriers. Of course this is in an ideal world where there are adequate high frequency and express transit alternatives around the city.
 
Why would you EVER put the bus station in the middle of Etobicoke? It isn't near a Subway, or GO Train, is barely served by public transit and you would essentially need people to drive to it. You might as well just leave it where it is.
No offence, but that is not a good idea.
 
The ideal location would seem to be the one with the most connections to the whole region to facilitate people traveling to and from different parts of the city. That sounds like Union Station to me, which is conveniently next to a highway.
 
Anywhere around Union Station is ideal for an intercity bus terminal. There is enough land currently used for parking that could accomodate a bus terminal.
 
Mayor in 2022 said:
Why would you EVER put the bus station in the middle of Etobicoke? It isn't near a Subway, or GO Train, is barely served by public transit and you would essentially need people to drive to it. You might as well just leave it where it is.
No offence, but that is not a good idea.
Click to expand...

I meant the food terminal, actually.
 
Union Station is the obvious location for any new bus terminal. I have a copy of an old study that talked about a much-expanded two level terminal on the existing GO Bus terminal site. That's probably ideal, though it might be a little congested.
That said, there are some advantages to the existing location. I know a lot of people--especially U of T students--who prefer the bus over the train because the bus is walking distance to campus (among other destinations) while you pretty much have to spend on TTC to get down to Union.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Union Station is the obvious location for any new bus terminal. I have a copy of an old study that talked about a much-expanded two level terminal on the existing GO Bus terminal site. That's probably ideal, though it might be a little congested.
That said, there are some advantages to the existing location. I know a lot of people--especially U of T students--who prefer the bus over the train because the bus is walking distance to campus (among other destinations) while you pretty much have to spend on TTC to get down to Union.
Click to expand...

From U of T? Really? Maybe if you're REALLY lazy and if it's winter. Otherwise, for all 3 years I commuted to St. George I walked up from Union.
 
I did it a bunch of times myself, but it's always winter when school's on and when you've got bags it's a bit of a jaunt. Anyway, why would they walk past the bus terminal to walk three times as far to Union? That's their argument, not mine. I'd walk four times as far to take one of my beloved trains.

On a tangentially related note...can anyone place exactly what that smell is in the bus terminal and on the Greyhound buses? Is it some specific brand of cheap disenfectant?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top