MacNab terminal reroutes city’s downtown

Hamilton’s downtown underwent a historic change Sunday as the long-awaited MacNab Street bus terminal finally opened.

This moves buses out of the south leg of Gore Park, which was the Hamilton Street Railway’s downtown hub for more than a century.

The new modern terminal on the east side of MacNab between King and Main streets features heated platforms, new bus shelters, a landscaped “green” roof, enhanced access for wheelchairs and bikes and public washrooms.

The terminal is a key step in the city’s vision to turn Gore Park into a Victorian-style pedestrian mall, featuring wider sidewalks, public art, veterans memorials and raised flowerbeds.

Garry Francis, 57, who has been driving for the HSR for eight years, said the move is a progressive step for the city, as there were too many close calls with passengers running in front of buses.

“It’s going to make Gore Park a public place where people can go and you don’t have the buses down there rumbling through,” Francis said.

But the move also marked a shift in drivers’ historical routes as there aren’t many longtime drivers who don’t have their own stories about Gore Park, he said. “It is in fact a historical moment. It’s changing Hamilton’s footprint. Kids that ride the bus and go down there now, their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents I’m sure caught buses down to that area.”

Francis and a group of other HSR drivers gathered at Gore Park to ride the last bus out of Gore Park at about midnight Sunday.