Barrie’s new centralized transit hub officially opened on Sunday, allowing commuters to access all the major transit services that connect to the city from one location. The Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal provides direct connections between Barrie Transit, GO Trains/Buses, County of Simcoe LINX, and Ontario Northland. Its location on 20 Essa Road is right next to the Allandale Waterfront GO Station and next to the century-old Allandale Station building. With its transit connections, commuters will be able to access Simcoe County, the Greater Toronto Area, and Northern Ontario. Construction on the $29 million project began back in February 2024 and its official groundbreaking was held at the end of May 2024. The city confirmed its September 21 opening date at the beginning of this month. The city says it plans to share additional details about the new terminal at an official grand opening event this coming week. With its opening, Barrie Transit Route 8 will be rerouted to service the new terminal more directly and will also make new stops along Lakeshore Drive, Springdale Drive and Cundles Road East. The downtown transit terminal at 24 Maple Avenue is set to close on September 28. It will eventually be turned into a campus for Lakehead University’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) hub, which is scheduled to be operational by the fall of 2026. The city says it will continue maintaining the old Allandale Station building as a historic site.
