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Sunnyside Bus Terminal

1936 establishments in Ontario1991 disestablishments in OntarioArt Deco architecture in CanadaBuildings and structures in TorontoBus stations in Ontario
Former bus stationsToronto Transit CommissionTransport in TorontoTransport infrastructure completed in 1936
GCL Sunnyside bus terminal
GCL Sunnyside bus terminal

Sunnyside Bus Terminal was an interurban bus station located in Sunnyside in the west end of Toronto at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue and its intersection with King Street and Queen Street West (and later The Queensway) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was across from Sunnyside Amusement Park and beside the Roncesvalles Carhouse. The station was owned and operated by Gray Coach bus lines, a subsidiary of the Toronto Transit Commission, that operated interurban bus routes connecting Toronto with outlying areas throughout southern Ontario. No route actually began or ended at the terminal, which was used as a rest stop and drop off and pick up point by Gray Coach and Greyhound routes heading west from Toronto to locations such as London, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Niagara Falls, Ontario, or Buffalo, New York. The terminal was also a point of departure for shuttle buses to various racetracks, such as Fort Erie, Long Branch or Woodbine. The terminal declined in usage following the creation of GO Transit in 1967, particularly after GO stopped contracting several of its routes to Gray Coach in the 1980s. The station was opened in 1936, on what was then the western edge of Toronto, and was constructed in an art deco style, including a steel canopy. The station had a ticket booth, restrooms, a waiting room, and, at its opening, the B&G Coffee Shop and Milk Bar. The coffee shop was operated by a succession of tenants throughout the station's existence and later housed the TEOEL Travel Bureau. The Edgewater Hotel was built next to the bus station on the north-west corner of the intersection in the 1930s, opening in 1939. Edgewater is now a Howard Johnson motel. The station was also served by both the King and Queen streetcars. Until its closure in 1967, the Sunnyside railway station across the street provided commuters with a connection to the Canadian National Railway. GO Transit was created in 1967 and took over CN's Toronto to Hamilton route replacing it with the Lakeshore West line which bypassed Sunnyside rail station thus reducing the use of Sunnyside as an intermodal transfer point between rail and coach routes. The rail station closed entirely in 1971 and was demolished in 1973. Sunnyside Bus Terminal did not have any bus bays. Buses serving the station stopped at the curb, on Queen Street (later known as the Queensway), outside the station, beside the Roncesvalles Carhouse. Gray Coach was sold in 1990 to Stagecoach and in 1992 was acquired by Greyhound Canada. The Sunnyside Bus Terminal was closed around the same time. The building still stands and retains its steel canopy. Still owned by the Toronto Transit Commission, the building was rented out as a donut shop for several years after Gray Coach's closure before becoming a McDonald's.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sunnyside Bus Terminal (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sunnyside Bus Terminal
The Queensway, Toronto

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Wikipedia: Sunnyside Bus TerminalContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 43.639444444444 ° E -79.447777777778 °
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Address

The Queensway

The Queensway
M6R 1B4 Toronto
Ontario, Canada
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GCL Sunnyside bus terminal
GCL Sunnyside bus terminal
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Sunnyside, Toronto
Sunnyside, Toronto

Sunnyside is a lakefront district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It includes a beach and park area along Lake Ontario's Humber Bay, from west of Exhibition Place to the mouth of the Humber River. The area has several recreation uses, including rowing clubs, sports clubs, picnic areas, playgrounds, a nightclub, a bathing pavilion and public pool. The area is a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long strip along the lakeshore, bounded by the Gardiner Expressway and rail lines, which separate it from the Parkdale, Roncesvalles and Swansea neighbourhoods to the north. The name originates in a local farm owned by John Howard, which was situated just to the north, on the location of the current St. Joseph's Health Centre hospital. The area is first noted in Toronto history as the location of the landing of an 1813 attack in the War of 1812. As Toronto grew, High Park preserved the open space to the north, while the Sunnyside area along the lake was taken over by new rail lines and a hydro-electric line serving Toronto, although the area remained popular for boating and swimming. By 1900, there were calls to clean up the area and in the 1910s, the area was the site of a massive waterfront reclamation public works project which expanding the land area by 38 hectares (94 acres), provided a breakwater for boating and built several beaches. Its popularity grew as a summertime recreation area and from 1922 to 1955, the reclaimed land was home to the popular Sunnyside Amusement Park which ran every summer. The amusement park was demolished to facilitate the building of the expressway, leaving behind several shoreline recreation uses from the era of the park, including the pool, the beaches and the sports clubs, all of which remain popular and well-used each summer.