What’s going on subway surfers, today we’re back on the surface taking a look around the
future Kipling Bus Terminal. Located in Etobicoke at the western end of Toronto’s Bloor-Danforth
subway line, this $73 million dollar GO station will become a hub for Mississauga Transit
buses connecting to the subway. We visited the station this past week to check in on
the construction, and get an understanding of the scope of this project. I’m Zach with
Vanishing Underground, and let’s take a look.
The Kipling bus terminal construction site is located roughly 12 kilometres from downtown
Toronto, at the western end of Toronto’s Line 2, the Bloor-Danforth line. The terminal
will contain 14 bus bays, four of which will be constructed for longer articulated buses.
A pedestrian bridge travels over the bus terminal, connecting with the Kipling GO station platform
on the south side, and a pedestrian path on the north side. From the terminal, an underground
pedestrian tunnel links to the Kipling TTC station and bus terminal. As part of this
project, the North Lot and Passenger Pick Up & Drop Offs at Kipling will be rebuilt,
being accessed from a new set of traffic signals at Acorn Avenue. The Kipling GO Station will
also become accessible with this renovation, with elevators linking the platform to the
bus terminal, and a new mini-platform for level train boarding.
With the opening of the terminal, MiWay buses currently ending at Islington Station will
be relocated to the terminal. Although the exact routing for each bus has not been released,
it is expected that the MiLocal routes on Dundas, Bloor, Rathburn, as well as long-distance
routes to Westwood and Keaton will be truncated at the terminal. The 26 Burnhamthorpe route
is expected to continue to service Islington Station, but revised to also stop at the new
Kipling terminal. MiExpress routes along Dundas, to the Meadowvale Business Park, and along
the Mississauga Transitway will also end at the terminal after servicing an intermediate
stop at The East Mall. The current MiLocal route to the Sheridan Business Park is also
expected to be converted to a MiExpress route before the opening of the terminal. GO Transit
is also expected to extend some of their routes currently ending at Square One, with services
to Waterloo and Guelph being extended along the Mississauga transitway to the terminal,
however these plans have not yet been released. MiLocal services along Eglinton are also expected
to be cut back to Renforth Station, reducing duplication along Highway 427.
The terminal will serve as a mobility hub for the western Toronto area, improving travel
times into Toronto for commuters. From the terminal, a 35 minute subway ride or 20 minute
train ride will bring commuters into the city. The opening of the hub will also allow for
Islington Station to be rebuilt, ensuring that much needed accessibility upgrades can
be completed. Furthermore, as the new hub is located closer to Highway 427, travel times
to the subway will be reduced by roughly seven minutes. The terminal will also offer an improved
interchange to the Milton GO Train line, offering a faster and cheaper alternative into downtown
Toronto for MiWay commuters compared to the subway. This regional transit hub will be
transformative for operations in the western GTA, consolidating many major TTC, MiWay and
GO Transit routes in one location, and improving connections for commuters. With construction
progressing well, the terminal is expected to open in late 2020 or early 2021.
Thanks for watching! We hope you enjoyed this video, and learned something new about the
future Kipling Bus Terminal. Feel free to leave a like and a comment if you want to
see more, and as for us here, we’ll be Vanishing Underground, until the next one.