265 Catherine St [Former Greyhound terminal] | 110/117/127m | 32/34/36f | Site Prep

[m0nkyman]

Looks like the bus depot is up for redevelopment officially:

Please be advised that a complete Zoning By-law Amendment application
has been received for the above noted property. You should receive the
Zoning By-law Amendment circulation package in the near future. Below
are details regarding the proposed development.



Site Location:

The property is located on the south side of Arlington Street bound by
Catherine Street to the south, Kent Street to the east and Lyon Street
to the west. The property is municipally known as 265 Catherine
Street.



Description of Site and Surroundings:

The subject property currently contains the Greyhound Bus Terminal.
The area to the north primarily consists of low-rise residential uses
comprised of single detached dwelling, semi-detached dwellings,
townhouses as well as a few bed and breakfast and commercial
establishments. The area to the south contains a variety of commercial
uses and further to the south is Highway 417. On the east side of Kent
Street is Glashan Middle School and further to the east are primarily
commercial uses. The area to the west is primarily low-rise
residential uses.



Details of Requested Zoning By-law Amendment Proposal:

The property is currently zoned Ground Transportation Facility Zone
(T2A) which is reflective of the current use of the property. The T2A
zone permits ground transportation facilities such as a bus station,
parking garage and train station.



The proposal includes a total of 458 residential units within
residential buildings ranging in height from 9 storeys to 23 storeys,
446 underground parking spaces as well as commercial and office uses.
The Zoning By-law Amendment proposes to rezone the property to
facilitate the development of a mixed-use development by amending the
existing zoning from T2A to a site specific General Mixed Use zone
(GM) to permit the proposed development.



For further information on the proposal, please visit
Ottawa.ca/devapps and use the search engine to locate this application
and supporting documentation.



Related Planning Applications:

N/A however, if approved, the proposed development will also require
Site Plan Approval.

[Dado]

So the coach terminal will be located where now?

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by Dado

So the coach terminal will be located where now?

Please please please let it be either across the road (dedicated ramp from Queensway perhaps a la Port Authority in NY) or part of a Rideau Centre expansion and NOT a suburban location.

We can dream...

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Larry O,Brien wanted to put beside the Alta Vista train terminal. His rationale being that it would connect with the transitway and a future LRT station. It is interesting that the City is now planning to put a pedestrian bridge across the Queensway at that point.
I never heard that a final decision to move Greyhound tio the VIa station had been made. Does anyone know what the plans are?

Updated: CTV: Thu Mar. 18 2010 5:20:21 PM

Ottawa's mayor is pushing for the current bus terminal on Catherine Street to move its operations to the Via Rail train station near Vanier Parkway.

CTV Ottawa has learned Larry O'Brien has formally asked Via Rail to allow the bus station to move into the train station on Tremblay Road.

"There's a big facility there and that big facility could be in fact used as well by both Greyhound and the Via," O'Brien told CTV Ottawa on Thursday.

"It works really well in Vancouver and the east coast -- it improves traffic for both."

The mayor has been pushing the idea behind the scenes for months, and says most of the players are already onside.

O'Brien's latest push includes writing a letter to Via Rail's president on Thursday, asking for final approval.

"I think we now have all the players warm to the idea. It's time for the public to have a say on that as well," said O'Brien.

While some train travellers told CTV Ottawa they welcome the idea, taxi drivers aren't so eager.

"It will be a mess -- a mess! Believe me," said taxi driver Ziad Kandaloft.

If the plan gets final approval, there's still lots of work to be done. However, O'Brien says Greyhound could be ready to make the move within three or four months.


With a report from CTV Ottawa's Graham Richardson

[jcollins]

Originally Posted by LeadingEdgeBoomer

Larry O,Brien wanted to put beside the Alta Vista train terminal. His rationale being that it would connect with the transitway and a future LRT station. It is interesting that the City is now planning to put a pedestrian bridge across the Queensway at that point.
I never heard that a final decision to move Greyhound tio the VIa station had been made. Does anyone know what the plans are?

Not that Im in favour of having the Greyhound station all the way out there, but I do love the idea of an inter-modal station. Having Greyhound, VIA, LRT and Buses all stop there would be great.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by jcollins

Not that Im in favour of having the Greyhound station all the way out there, but I do love the idea of an inter-modal station. Having Greyhound, VIA, LRT and Buses all stop there would be great.

I actually produced a plan for an intermodal terminal at the Train Station that leveraged the existing Transitway infrastructure and I presented it long before O'Brien came up with the idea. Naturally it was dismissed.



The white things are sized to coaches. The coach terminal basically requires complete excavation of the 'bowl'. Alighting and boarding are separated, using the existing Transitway infrastructure. In fact, it's possible for passengers to alight from a coach and transfer directly to an inbound LRT by way of a cross-platform transfer. The boarding terminal is based around the current inbound platform and is semi-circular, which has the effect of increasing the number of parking spots while at the same time reducing the amount of walking to any particular coach. Coaches that are not expected to be parked for long can use the existing bus lane on the south side. There is also provision for a coach turnaround and extra parking north of Tremblay, while additional connections to Tremblay are provided to the west.

As you can see, I moved the LRT tracks and station right in front of the VIA station entrance (this was one of the original options for Train). The purple lines are tracks to the maintenance yard. The 180 m and 30 m measures are the result of some dumb excuse that was offered by the consultant that there wasn't enough room to have a switch beyond the end of the platform.


This probably belongs in another thread, though...

[cityguy]

A 23 storey tower in that area,the nimby's will go crazy.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by cityguy

A 23 storey tower in that area,the nimby's will go crazy.

No doubt. Especially since the bus terminal is such an asset to the nearby residential areas.
Putting the bus terminal out with the Via station makes good sense to me.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by cityguy

A 23 storey tower in that area,the nimby's will go crazy.

You'd think so, but rumour has it the councillor approves!

[McC]

When Mayor Larry was musing about relocating the bus terminal to Via*, wasn't the terminal owner saying that he had no interest in redeveloping the land? that he wanted to make money long term off the terminal rental, not short term off the land value? I remember it something like that.

*which I think is a good location too:, it's a little isolated now, but it has good vehicle and transit accessibility, will increase the number of people -- and therefore demand for services in the and around the station -- and it's not really "out there", it's only about 1.5 km further from the Rideau Centre than the current bus station is (it just feels "out there").

[drawarc]

I wish they could atleast keep the bus terminal downtown.

[jcollins]

Originally Posted by theKpa

I wish they could atleast keep the bus terminal downtown.

Where though?

If it's going to move, sure a downtown location would be nice, but pairing it with VIA, LRT, etc makes sense.

Now if VIA were to move downtown, that changes everything

[hhunter]

Originally Posted by jcollins

Where though?

If it's going to move, sure a downtown location would be nice, but pairing it with VIA, LRT, etc makes sense.

Now if VIA were to move downtown, that changes everything

Does it make sense? In my 25 years of living in (and traveling in and out) of Ottawa, I have yet to ever have any need to transfer between VIA and Greyhound. I see few instances in which that would come in handy...

None the less, I would LOVE to see the train station relocate downtown (eg Union Station?)

[ServiceGuy]

Who currently owns the bus terminal?

[McC]

Originally Posted by ServiceGuy

Who currently owns the bus terminal?

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/...000/story.html

Vancouver real estate entrepreneur Stewart Robertson... the station is owned by Robertson’s company, Crerar Silverside Corporation. Until recently, it was operated by Station Centrale, a Montreal-based firm, which leased space to Greyhound. Station Centrale recently sold its business to a new operator, Corporate Customer Service Limited.

[jcollins]

Originally Posted by hhunter

Does it make sense? In my 25 years of living in (and traveling in and out) of Ottawa, I have yet to ever have any need to transfer between VIA and Greyhound. I see few instances in which that would come in handy...

None the less, I would LOVE to see the train station relocate downtown (eg Union Station?)

But does it NOT make sense? Why not house multiple modes of transit together if you can?

[hhunter]

Originally Posted by jcollins

But does it NOT make sense? Why not house multiple modes of transit together if you can?

Oh no, there's no problem with housing multiple modes of transit together. But relocating solely for that purpose when it doesn't bring significant benefit IS a problem.

I've never seen stats on whether people do transfer between the two (it does have value if you're coming from or going to somewhere that has no Via connection, and want to get a train first chance you get). But unless that's common, the transit hub idea is quite weak.

That said, the current greyhound location is poor because it doesn't offer a connection to the transit way. At least relocating it could have that benefit.

[KHOOLE]

Originally Posted by hhunter

Does it make sense? In my 25 years of living in (and traveling in and out) of Ottawa, I have yet to ever have any need to transfer between VIA and Greyhound. I see few instances in which that would come in handy...

None the less, I would LOVE to see the train station relocate downtown (eg Union Station?)

Makes a lot of sense to me. Combination bus and train stations are quite common in southern Spain and France.
An intermodal terminal with access to trains, buses, the 417, Transitway and LRT means that anyone from Central Canada, including Montreal, could arrive in beachwear in the middle of winter and go straight to the airport (provided the O-Train line gets finished).
Good for business.
Another thought: someone from North Bay or beyond comes to Ottawa by bus then hops on the train to Montreal to watch a Sens-Montreal game OR go watch a Sens game at Scotia Place, stays in town overnight and back to the train station for a bus ride back home. No suitcase required.
However, we need a Kanata to Orleans LRT line ASAP. None of that DOTT stuff.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by KHOOLE

Makes a lot of sense to me. Combination bus and train stations are quite common in southern Spain and France.
An intermodal terminal with access to trains, buses, the 417, Transitway and LRT means that anyone from Central Canada, including Montreal, could arrive in beachwear in the middle of winter and go straight to the airport (provided the O-Train line gets finished).
Good for business.
Another thought: someone from North Bay or beyond comes to Ottawa by bus then hops on the train to Montreal to watch a Sens-Montreal game OR go watch a Sens game at Scotia Place, stays in town overnight and back to the train station for a bus ride back home. No suitcase required.
However, we need a Kanata to Orleans LRT line ASAP. None of that DOTT stuff.

So what you are saying is that it would be great for occasional out-of-towners to breeze through town in winter wearing beachwear while we have to trudge daily into downtown bundled up and in winter boots, dodging trains and getting splattered with dirty slush stepping off of surface LRT?

[Kitchissippi]

I think It would be more elegant if they mirrored the train station with a bus station facing Terminal Avenue. Commuter buses to Embrun/Limoge/Cassleman could leave from here, too.