Bus Stations in Kingston

After a fire consumed the street railway car barns along King-Queen-Ontario Streets, along with twenty cars in March 1930, Colonial Coach Lines, which had been solely in the business of providing intercity bus travel, morphed into a city transit service for Kingston. Included in the new bus service were some new city routes served by an additional seven buses brought from Montreal. Before that, Colonial ran routes to Ottawa, Brockville and Prescott. All photos in this post are courtesy of John Carey unless otherwise noted.

By 1931, a terminal was located at the north-west corner of Princess and Montreal Streets, touted as the only indoor terminal in Canada! Originally the King Edward Theatre, next door was the Windsor Hotel, reportedly a somewhat sketchy watering hole, which when torn down was replaced by the Fort Henry Hotel which in turn burned down on February 24, 1968.

Exterior view (above) looking across Princess Street, with Montreal Street heading north at right. In 1949, Colonial Coach lines bought out Oshawa's Collacutt Coach Lines, the latter operating Gananoque-Oshawa, mainly to take over their route towards Toronto. Colonial was Ontario-based, while Provincial Tranporation, later Voyageur, was Quebec-based. Interior view (below) showing built-to-last but austere wooden waiting room benches. Both photos were taken in 1939. 

Passengers boarded buses on Montreal Street, then proceeding up or down Princess Street to Toronto and Montreal, respectively. Between runs, buses were stored across Queen Street, now a city parking lot. The PWOR Armoury's roof is visible in the background (top photo) in which one bus route-sign indicates 'RCAF'. Buses were serviced in the centre of the Princess-Montreal-Queen city block, accessed through an archway on Montreal Street near David's Lunch. Once through the archway, the buses would swing around, be filled up with gas, then exit again.

The garage stood on the site presently occupied by the CKWS (Global/Corus) broadcast centre and TV studios. The site was cramped to say the least, and a modern terminal with restaurant opened at Kingston's traffic circle in 1948.

Traffic circle construction had started in 1942. The McFedridge family lived there in the large limestone house known as Vauxhall. In a huge land deal, the 3.25 acres between Highways 2 and 33 were sold to Canadian Tire for a new store in 1959. 

The store was across Bath Road from the Colonial bus terminal. Three undated photos posted to Vintage Kingston Facebook group.

The new Colonial Coach Lines terminal opened on May 14, 1948, covering over 80,000 square feet. The waiting room measured 44x25 feet, and a Macy's Terminal Restaurants air-conditioned eatery with 'large windows and colourful furnishings' was under the same roof. The restaurant boasted about its fine coffee, its jumbo hamburgers (elevated to the order of a banquet!), Chicken a la King, and its Chicken in a Basket, a signature entree. Its Red Brand sirloin steaks were served right off the charcoal grill. The Jiggs dinner -corned beef and cabbage - cost a reasonable 75 cents in 1949.

(Whig-Standard clippings)

A 1947 aerial view shows finishing touches being put on the new terminal. City coaches are parked nose-in to Wilmot's Dairy.

Ground-level exterior views of the terminal. A 1947 GMC Highway Cruiser:

Buses lined up in front of the terminal circa 1953. All coaches shown were 3702 models, except for new 1952 Brills:

The terminal's cavernous maintenance garage measured 254x140 feet, with overhanging heaters. Day-to-day maintenance was done in Kingston, with major jobs performed at Provincial's main garage in Montreal. This view faces east toward the maintenance in-ground pits:

The traffic circle terminal's garage closed in 1960. The entire property was up for sale (below) sucessfully purchased by Samuel Springer on July 1, 1962. The garage's interior was ideal for a bowling alley, and was taken over by Cloverleaf bowling lanes which opened on January 10, 1963.

The new 10,000 square-foot Voyageur-Colonial bus terminal at 959 Division Street near Counter Street opened in late 1972, later becoming Curley's eatery and the Portuguese cultural centre. Voyageur moved to a new terminal at 175 Counter Street on November 29, 1992, still a bus terminal served by Megabus.