New Sarnia Transit bus terminal at Clearwater Arena is ready to roll

A Sarnia Transit bus drove through a red ribbon Friday to mark the opening of the city’s new $3-million bus terminal on what used to be the front lawn of the Clearwater Arena.

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Beginning Monday, the new terminal, designed with space for eight city buses as well as support vehicles, will replace a crammed terminal on Murphy Road used for many years.

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“This is the most creative use of public space I’ve seen,” Mayor Mike Bradley said during a short ceremony.

“We looked at other spots – the old Sports Chek building, something at Lambton College,” he said.

He gave credit to city staff, saying using the arena lawn for a new terminal was “a brilliant idea.”

Funding from the province and federal governments helped cover the cost.

“The people of Sarnia deserve the best transit experience possible and that’s what we’re delivering today,” said Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey.

The new terminal “has been in the works for a long time,” said David Jackson, the city’s general manager of engineering and operations.

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“It looks great, and we’re excited to start operating here starting Monday,” he said.

Transit users are being encouraged to check the Sarnia Transit website for route changes connected to the new terminal, which also begins Monday.

“We have a new interactive map on the website,” Jackson said. It can be found at sarnia.ca/transitmaps.

Bus drivers have been practicing using the new terminal and are eager to begin using it, he said.

“We’ve been working out of that Murphy terminal for many years” and “it was too small from the day it started,” Jackson said.

A better and “safer space” has been a common concern for transit staff, he said.

“This is the first real off-road, full-sized terminal we’ve ever had” and it gives riders and drivers access to the arena lobby and washrooms which are generally open many of the same hours as transit operates, Jackson said.

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The Murphy Road terminal will still be used as a bus stop, and work is expected to begin this year on a new downtown terminal near the former Bayside Mall site.

A study is also underway to come up with a plan for the city to begin adding electric buses to its fleet. The federal government announced this week it’s contributing about $150,500 for the $188,000 study being carried out by the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium.

Jackson said it’s analyzing the routes to determine what size batteries buses will need, timelines for buying buses, cost estimates, which routes to start with, training needed for transit mechanics, electrical capacity and charging needs to come up with a strategy for moving to electric -powered nozzles.

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Work on the study began about one year ago and is expected to be completed by the end of this year, he said.

The next step after that will be seeking out grants to help with the purchase of vehicles, which are currently about twice the cost of diesel-powered buses, Jackson said.

It takes about two years for a new bus to be delivered after being ordered so the arrival of electric city buses is still a few years off, he said.

Plans are to replace the city fleet of about 30 buses of different sizes slowly and over time. Currently “we replace a couple of buses a year,” Jackson said.

“Some of our larger buses, we keep them for about 15 years so it could be a very slow transition,” he said.

Although, he added, it is possible to convert some diesel buses to electric motors, should the city decide it wants to move more quickly.

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