King-Victoria Transit Hub

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Archived News:

Region buys land for transportation hub
Nov 24, 2010 | 570 News | Link

The region of Waterloo has purchased about 3 acres of land at the corner of King and Victoria in downtown Kitchener to build a hub for transit.

The region paid almost 5.8 million dollars for land along Victoria between King and Duke street West.

That’s where it will build a transit facility where GO and VIA Rail trains, inter-city buses, the GRT system and rapid transit will all connect at one location.

The region’s CAO Mike Murray says the facility will eliminate the need for the VIA Rail station on Weber, but the Charles street bus terminal will likely stay open.

Murray says the location is ideal because all preferred routes for the rapid transit system, whether it be bus or light rail, go right past that site.

The facility will also have room for retail development on the ground floor and office and commercial space upstairs.

After the required plans and studies are completed, Murray says they will seek proposals from the private sector to work with the region to develop the property.

Central transit hub plan hailed
Nov 26, 2010 | Jeff Outhit | The Record | Link

KITCHENER — Passengers and transit advocates are hailing the plan for a central transit station in downtown Kitchener.

Regional council secretly spent almost $6 million to buy most of two blocks at the railway tracks at Victoria and King streets. The long-proposed plan is to bring Grand River Transit, Via Rail, GO Transit, Greyhound and a proposed rapid transit system under one roof there.

“It would make sense for me,” said George Aube, waiting Thursday to board a Via Rail train to New Brunswick. “It would be all in one place. It would be great.”

He suggests the transit facility should have parking and car rental agencies. When he arrived in downtown Kitchener by train, to visit his children, he took a taxi to Fairway Road to rent a car.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Wilfrid Laurier student Adam Poleski said. “I just think it’s more helpful.”

He took a city bus to King and Victoria streets Thursday, then walked five minutes to reach the Via Rail station to board a passenger train to Kingston. A central facility would streamline his transfer.

“I think it’s actually a really good idea,” said Vlad Pop, waiting for a train to Montreal.

Passengers hope to some day take trains from the transit facility to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

Also cheering are Tim Mollison of the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group and Ruth Haworth of Taxpayers for Sensible Transit.

“Right now, we have a very patchwork system,” Mollison said. “It’s really very important to consolidate all of these into one place, to sort of give people as few transfers as possible.”

“It sounds like a great idea,” Haworth said. “We’ve always had this weird system where the buses went one place and the trains went to another place, and it was sort of difficult to get to the train station.”

Her advice: “I hope that they provide sufficient parking.”

Regional government intends to launch at least two years of planning.

Regional Chair Ken Seiling, who figures construction is more than two years away, sought to address some questions.

Will there be parking? Yes. Parking is needed for any commercial or residential component and also for some transit passengers, he figures. “My gut would say that there would be some sort of (parking) structure.”

However, Seiling anticipates less downtown parking is needed if GO builds its proposed park-and-ride train station east of Kitchener, with 700 parking spaces. GO also plans an eventual park-and-ride station west of Kitchener in Baden. Rapid transit would further reduce parking needs, Seiling argues.

GO Transit is launching two daily commuter trains next year from Kitchener to Toronto. The proposed park-and-ride station is on hold to save money. Passengers will use the Via Rail station for now.

How much will it cost to build and where will the money come from? Seiling could not estimate costs. “It really depends on the private sector partnerships,” he said. Possible sources could include regional government funds, private investment and contributions from senior governments.

What would it look like? There are no drawings or visualizations, Seiling said.

Mollison envisions a facility that uses all the property and includes floors of private space above buses and trains. Private dollars will help pay for the public terminal, he figures.

How could the Beer Store site become part of the transit hub? Options include purchasing the property, expropriating it or partnering with the owners.