Charles St. Transit Terminal

Charles St. Transit Terminal
Station statistics
Address	15 Charles Street West Kitchener, Ontario
Coordinates	43°26′58.5″N 80°29′32.2″W / 43.449583°N 80.492278°W / 43.449583; -80.492278Coordinates: 43°26′58.5″N 80°29′32.2″W / 43.449583°N 80.492278°W / 43.449583; -80.492278
Lines	Grand River Transit   GO Transit   Greyhound Canada   Coach Canada   Aboutown Transportation
Structure	Ticket office, washrooms, waiting room, restaurant, covered platforms
Platforms	25
Parking	32
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Other information
Accessible
Code	GO Transit: KITB
Owned by	Region of Waterloo

The Charles St. Transit Terminal at 15 Charles Street West in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada is the main bus station and downtown hub for local Grand River Transit (GRT) bus services for Kitchener and Waterloo. This terminal is also used by a number of intercity operators, including Greyhound, GO Transit, Coach Canada and Aboutown.

It is the largest public service facility run by GRT, with the Cambridge Ainslie Street terminal being the only other staffed bus station.

History

The building was completed in 1988 by the City of Kitchener, which operated Kitchener Transit, GRT's forerunner, at the time. It replaced a facility at Duke and Scott streets, which had become overcrowded. Ownership has since transferred to the Region of Waterloo, GRT's operator.

Facilities

Though served by Greyhound Canada, this is no longer their main ticketing location for the community; a commuter lot on Sportsworld Drive houses their primary customer service desk. A single ticketing agent with a portable device handles sales outdoors on the intercity platform during service hours. All other intercity operators are handled by the GRT desk indoors, on the upper level.

The primary structure contains this desk, plus washrooms and administrative space on the upper level; the lower level contains both a licensed restaurant and walk-in cafe, plus an ATM. Access between the floors is by either escalator or elevator. Access to the GRT platforms from the entry structure is by an enclosed, elevated walkway; each of the two paired platform groups have a 'pod' containing stairwells and an elevator, which also serve as enclosed, climate-controlled waiting space for passengers.

Future

The possibility of the Charles St. Terminal becoming redundant in the near future has been broached by a pair of Regional plans: first, on implementation of a rapid-transit backbone which would decentralize bus routes and require fewer platforms at a single downtown location; and second, the plan to build a multi-modal hub at King and Victoria streets to handle train, bus, and rapid-transit services (this would also likely make the railway station redundant). No timeline has been indicated on any such change, to date.

Bus services

Grand River Transit

• Grand River Transit routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 200 iXpress; 20 bus emplacements on 4 platforms

Greyhound

• Toronto Quicklink
• Toronto / Guelph / London (local service)

GO Transit

• Milton for GO Train connections (twice each weekday) and Square One Mississauga GO Bus [1]

Coach Canada

• Hamilton / St. Catharines / Niagara Falls (local service)

Aboutown NorthLink

• NorthLink Route NL-2: Hanover / Walkerton / Harriston / Palmerston / Listowel / Linwood (local service)

Bus platforms at night

See also

• Ainslie St. Transit Terminal
• Kitchener railway station

External links

• GO Transit station page for Charles St. Transit Terminal
• Terminal platform layout from GRT