| Charles St. Transit Terminal |
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|---|---|
| Station statistics | |
| Address | 15 Charles Street West Kitchener, Ontario |
| Lines | |
| 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.
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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.
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.
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.
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