Friday marked the official grand opening of the Barrie-Allandale Transit Terminal, which the city says strengthens transit access and connections between Simcoe County, northern Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Located nearer to the geographic center of Barrie, the terminal is beside the Allandale Waterfront GO station and also provides access to the County of Simcoe's LINX service and Ontario Northland buses.
After use of the facility began Sunday, the modernized approach is providing hope for improved connectivity and growth in and out of the Barrie area.
"If you can think about being somebody who's coming from Toronto," Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall explained at Friday's opening. "What we're going to see is somebody jumping on that two-way, all-day GO train—eventually—and getting off at this new transit terminal right into a bus to be able to go to whatever meetings they need to. Whether it's north Barrie, south Barrie and everything in between."
Municipal, provincial, and federal funding helped make the terminal and downtown mini hub project a reality, with the City of Barrie footing $11 million of the $31.4 million bill. Nuttall added that he thinks having support from other levels of government is what got the project over the finish line.
"This building really is about all levels of government working together with community partners and meeting the needs, not just for now but for the future," Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey said.
Ontario's government's contribution of over $9.24 million is part of a $70 billion investment to expand transit over the next decade.
While its a short sample size, it seems that riders are also pleased so far with the new facility, connectivity, and route changes.
"The feedback has been all positive from the riders in terms of the location and the space," Barrie Transit director of transit and parking Brent Forsyth said to Barrie360. "The connection to GO is probably the main reoccurring, trending feedback we're getting, just how well it's going to connect with our regional service."
As part of the change, Route 8 has adjusted to service the new terminal more directly and to provide new routing onto Lakeshore Drive, Springdale Drive, and Cundles Road East.
"We tried to minimize any kind of big route changes, because just moving the terminal was a big enough impact to the public," Forsyth says.
The previous terminal at Maple Avenue will close Sunday, meaning it will no longer sell transit passes. However, the building will renovated and transformed into a campus for Lakehead University's science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) hub, which is scheduled to open in fall 2026.
Buses will still service the area at new stops and shelters on Maple Avenue, not around the platforms at the downtown facility.
Work still continues at the new building, which is set to include a café, solar panels on bus shelters, canopy roofs, and a new multi-use path through the site.
Inside features a variety of seating areas, screens with departure and route information, and is lined with photographs of the history of the Allandale area's use as a hub for rail, among other transit.
