Ainslie St. Transit Terminal
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The Ainslie St. Transit Terminal is a
bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...
and
terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...
in
Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 Canadian census, 202 ...
, Canada. It is located in the core of
Galt Galt or GALT may refer to: Biology and biochemistry * Galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, an enzyme * Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a subset of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue People and fictional characters * Galt (surname), a list o ...
, a former city which is now a community within Cambridge. The building is a single-story facility with a waiting room, ticket counter, public washrooms, and vending machines. It is surrounded on all sides by bus platforms, with the only access to and from the surrounding streets by crossing the bus
right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
.


History

The Ainslie Street Terminal was built as a replacement for the Mill Street Terminal (which was located on Mill Street near Main Street and Ainslie Street) after a 1988 report, commissioned by the City of Cambridge, concluded that the existing facilities were totally inadequate and a replacement terminal should be constructed. This occurred around the same time as the construction of the
Charles Street Terminal The Charles Street Transit Terminal is a former bus terminal in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is the former downtown hub for local Grand River Transit (GRT) bus services for Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, although the terminal now sit ...
in the neighbouring city of Kitchener, which replaced an earlier Duke Street Terminal that had also been deemed inadequate. Local bus services at the terminal were originally operated by
Cambridge Transit Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
. In 2000, Cambridge Transit was merged with
Kitchener Transit Kitchener may refer to: People * Earl Kitchener, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916), British Field Marshal and 1st Earl Kitchener ** Henry Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener (1846–1937 ...
to form
Grand River Transit Grand River Transit (GRT) is the public transport operator for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It operates daily bus services in the region, primarily in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, alongside the I ...
, managed under the
Region of Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...
, as part of a general regionalization of formerly municipal services.


Launch of iXpress

During the mid-2000s, planners began reorienting regional Grand River Transit service around the concept of a Central Transit Corridor, which was defined generally as the linear urbanized area, much of it following King Street, that comprised the cores of the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. The first stage in service improvements on the Central Transit Corridor was an
express bus Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...
system, branded as ''iXpress'', which was designed as a regional connector to complement existing local bus services which had largely been inherited from Grand River Transit's predecessor agencies. The Ainslie Street Terminal was chosen as the southern terminus for the iXpress service due to the relatively high number of people working in downtown Galt, as well as the high number of local bus routes (at the time, eleven) which stopped at the station. The area of the Ainslie Street Terminal was chosen specifically by regional planners as a focus for their promotion of the service due to factors relating to its urban environment, such as its relatively strong
sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick ...
network, a land-use mix which encouraged transportation modes other than
driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to fol ...
, and its demographic makeup. With the launch of iXpress in September 2005, a bus trip between the Ainslie Street Terminal and the Conestoga Mall bus terminal in north Waterloo was reduced from 112 minutes with one
transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...
to a single-seat ride of 71 minutes. Subsequent ridership studies in the late 2000s showed that only of iXpress riders boarding at the Ainslie Street Terminal walked to the station, while transferred from local routes. This indicated a walking rate lower than any iXpress stop in Kitchener or Waterloo, but higher than any other iXpress stop in the city of Cambridge. An analysis of
generalized cost In transport economics, the generalised cost is the sum of the monetary and non-monetary costs of a journey. It is sometimes used as a basis for judgements of transit accessibility and equitable distribution of public transit resources. Monetary ...
indicated a greater generalized travel cost reduction for transit riders along the southern section (Ainslie to Fairview) than the northern (Fairview to Conestoga).


Ion rapid transit

The next change to the Central Transit Corridor was a two-stage
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
plan, beginning with the replacement of the original iXpress route with a combination of light rail transit (LRT) along the northern Conestoga–Fairview section, called the Ion light rail, and adapted
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
(aBRT) in the southern Ainslie–Fairview section, branded as the
Ion Bus Ion, stylized as ION, is an integrated public transportation network in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Keolis and is part of the Grand River Transit (GRT) system, partially replacing GRT's Route 200 ...
; the entire system was branded holistically as
Ion rapid transit Ion, stylized as ION, is an integrated public transportation network in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Keolis and is part of the Grand River Transit (GRT) system, partially replacing GRT's Route 200 i ...
. With the launch of the Ion system in June 2019, the 200 iXpress route was eliminated, necessitating a linear transfer for riders at
Fairway station Fairway is a light rail station and bus station in Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blan ...
. Ridership statistics indicated total ridership on the 302 Ion Bus was higher than on the same part of the 200 iXpress route during the same period of the previous year.


Services

As well as being the hub for local Grand River Transit routes within the city of Cambridge and some intercity connections, the Ainslie Street Terminal is the southerly terminus for the
Ion Bus Ion, stylized as ION, is an integrated public transportation network in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Keolis and is part of the Grand River Transit (GRT) system, partially replacing GRT's Route 200 ...
adapted
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
(aBRT) service, which is the spine of the regional transit system and connects with the Ion light rail line at
Fairway station Fairway is a light rail station and bus station in Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blan ...
in south Kitchener.


Grand River Transit


Summary


Full table


Coach Canada

Daily intercity service to
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
, St. Catharines,
Niagara Falls, ON Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...
and
Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
.


Future

The Region of Waterloo's Stage 2 Ion rapid transit plan would see light rail service extended through Cambridge to downtown Galt, replacing the Ion Bus. One estimate in 2019 placed the start of construction at no earlier than 2028. The proposed light rail line extension would bypass the Ainslie Street Terminal while travelling along Wellington Street, then terminate at a new "Downtown Cambridge" station on Bruce Street. The stretch of roadway on Bruce Street between Ainslie Street and Water Street North would be used for an on-street bus station, replacing the Ainslie Street Terminal.


References


External links

{{GRT Terminals Grand River Transit Bus stations in Cambridge, Ontario