Ottawa intercity bus terminal relocation

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I don't think having the bus terminal downtown is all that important. It was to it before on Catherine, but no one would argue that the location was more accessible than any of the other possibilities along the Confederation Line.

Hurdman or Tremblay would be far superior to Catherine. Both present some interesting opportunities. Both would require a significant investment (guesstimate $20-30 million to improve Hurdman bus loop and concourse, or to convert part of the VIA station to a bus depot, and possibly build bus lay-bys and/or a bus loop).

First of all, I wouldn't really consider Catherine St. downtown and I totally agree that having it anywhere on the Confederation line will be a huge improvement.

As for the importance for having it downtown, it really depends who is using it. For intercity bus service, having it at the train station is a decent compromise and provides certain advantages. However, for commuter bus service, we really need to get our head out of the sand and have a longer term plan for for a commuter bus terminal downtown (which could double as an intercity station) now, while we can. The problem is the city isn't concerned about supporting the commute of people who don't live in Ottawa (which is understandable), yet the province seems to not be concerned about regional transportation in the backwater of Ottawa.

As discussed in the Rural Bus Network thread, this wasn't all that big of an issue before the confederation line was built, since the regional bus operators were allowed to use the Transitway to get downtown. Now that the transitway is gone, the options remaining are:

1. Have the buses fight with traffic on the highways and streets, or
2. Have riders pay twice (once to get to the nearest O-Train station and once to get the rest of the way downtown).

What is really needed is for the province to get involved, but I don't have any hope of that.

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

The bus terminal should be at the train station and Tremblay O-Train service.

HOWEVER, how about in the urban wasteland at Terminal Drive, across from Walmart.

I'm not sure how good an idea that is. Getting buses to/from Terminal Ave. from the 417 is significantly more circuitous than Trembley Rd.

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

FINALLY open the under-track tunnel to pedestrian service, and animate both sides of the tracks (making the tunnel less sketchy) by having the bus station at the south end of the tunnel.

Opening the existing tunnel to the public won't be all that easy, as I gather it is too narrow to handle general pedestrian traffic in addition to the passengers boarding trains. A new over/underpass would be needed, which wouldn't be cheap.

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Incorporate the station in the next tower planned for the site, with bus parking and loop around the north side of the tower.

Is there a tower planned for the site?