First Look at New Transit Hub at Allandale

Hub will provide additional service to GO.

A new transit hub at the Allandale Waterfront GO Station has been given the tentative green light from City Council.

Inside the Allandale Mobility Hub Feasibility Study we get our first glimpse of the Allandale hub. The study has been in the works for four months now with an initial price tag for the project pegged at $9 million.

Allandale Go Station ridership to grow from 300 riders per day to 2,000 by 2031.

In a Facebook post, Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman said “with GO Train service becoming all-day service, there’s a need to provide additional service to GO.”

Lehman says the hub will increase the number of routes serving the station directly. He says the downtown terminal is roughly half-vacant so counter service and other bus services will move to the new building at Allandale allowing the full downtown building to be repurposed as a market.

On Downtown Transit

Lehman says there will be virtually no impact to the level of transit service to downtown. “Currently 79% of Barrie residents have direct service to Downtown Barrie. With the changes this will be 78%. A transit hub with platforms and shelters will remain on Maple Ave. Further, transit passes and tickets will continue to be available at the Terminal in the market.”

Traffic Impact

Lehman says “this project should reduce traffic. While there will be about nine more buses an hour using the hub, closing the Essa entrance will mean no more buses turning left, which will help traffic. In addition, greater transit access to the GO station should allow more people to take buses instead of driving – which will be an increasing issue as GO service becomes more frequent.