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The Government of Ontario is partnering with the Cities of Toronto and Mississauga to build a new regional bus terminal at the Toronto Transit Commission's Kipling Station. Ontario Minister of Transportation, Stephen Del Duca announced that the Province is working with Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario to issue a request for proposals from three consortiums to build the new terminal.
The bus-terminal project and its supporting infrastructure will help redevelop the area around the Kipling GO Transit station and the TTC subway station. It will integrate the subway, GO trains and GO, TTC and MiWay buses at a single mobility hub. “This new mobility hub will support local residents by making their commute faster and less stressful in this region. Today’s announcement is the next step toward making this a reality and it is proof that our government is committed to improving our transit networks to enhance the quality of life for all commuters in Ontario,” Minister Del Duca said.
These upgrades will encourage GO to increase rail service along its Milton GO line and support the Province's GO regional express rail program.
To help increase capacity along the Milton Corridor, the scope of work includes:
- an elevated pedestrian bridge to connect the GO station's pedestrian entrance to the new bus terminal building and rail platforms.
- a new pedestrian underground tunnel from the new bus terminal to the station building.
- A new service building incorporating the main public entrance to the station with electrical and mechanical service rooms for the site.
- renovations to, and expansion of, the GO station building, including better vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian access.
Other details of the project include:
- A bus terminal with 14 bus bays off Subway Crescent, west of the TTC station, with dedicated access from Subway Crescent.
- renovations to the TTC pedestrian pick-up and drop off building (or "kiss-and-ride");
- parking upgrades; and
- a new extension of Acorn Avenue south of Dundas Street West with vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian access, including traffic signals.
Although the new terminal helps improve transit in many parts of the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area, it mostly benefits Mississauga. GO's Milton line serves a large area of that City and Mississauga's MiWay buses travel past Kipling Station to start and end their trips in a terminal at Islington, one station further east. That trip further east adds as much as ten minutes' travel time for MiWay passengers heading into or out of Toronto.
When Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie stepped up to the podium, she told the spectators that her city was contributing as much as $5 million to the project.
"I want to thank our partners in the provincial government and Metrolinx for their commitment to work with municipalities to build a reliable, accessible and extensive regionally-integrated transit network. The improvements planned to the Kipling Transit Station will improve MiWay Bus service and benefit residents, students, commuters, tourists in Mississauga and across the Greater Toronto Area," she said. "City-building is also about building better connections, so that people can more easily through Mississauga and throughout the region," she added.
Del Duca had earlier confessed that he lived in Etobicoke as a boy. "I usually rode the 112 West Mall bus to this station... practically from my front door on Wellesworth Drive." Del Duca then recommended a nearby burger joint, where he often hung out as a teenager. "In fact," he said, "My father had his meal there on the night I was born – while my mother was doing all the hard work in Queensway General."
Then, the event quickly turned into Homecoming Day, when Crombie admitted that she, too, grew up in Etobicoke, in the nearby Markland Woods community. "I traveled through Kipling Station nearly every day on my way to high school and university", she said.
Peter Milczyn, Member of Provincial Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Yvan Baker, MPP for Etobicoke Centre, TTC Chair and Toronto Councillor Josh Colle, local Councillor Justin Di Ciano and Michael Wolczyk, Metrolinx vice president for corridor infrastructure, joined the minister and mayor at the event.
Milczyn, formerly the local councillor, had been a long-time advocate for the project, which the cities and Province originally proposed ten years ago (or longer). Milczyn also reminded the attendees that the project is just one part of the City of Toronto's plans for the area. He said that Toronto plans to build a new pedestrian-oriented city centre on the nearby site that was once home to the Westwood cinemas. Meanwhile, the city is also proceeding with untangling the local Six Points interchange of Bloor, Dundas, and Kipling with a major redesign and construction project that's now underway.
"The new Kipling Mobility Hub is a project this community has been waiting for. A key element of the Etobicoke City Centre redevelopment, this hub will help more people get to and from the area. The reduction in bus travel on our roads will also help improve air quality in the area," he said.
The Metrolinx / Infrastructure Ontario request for proposals seeks to identify consortia to design, build and finance the project. In November, the two provincial agencies sent out a request for qualifications to narrow the number of bids. That process selected three proponents: Bird/Kiewit JV, EllisDon Infrastructure Transit, and Kipling Infrastructure Partnership. The province expects to name the successful bidder this fall and open the terminal in 2019.
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