The new Park 'n' Ride Transit Terminal in downtown Lethbridge (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

City celebrates grand opening of new Park ‘n’ Ride Transit Terminal

Sep 6, 2019 | 12:34 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The wheels on the bus go round and round.

The City of Lethbridge celebrated the official grand opening of the new Regional Park ‘n’ Ride Transit Terminal. The new facility is located in the downtown core of the city, at 705 5 Avenue South.

A number of dignitaries were on hand for the event, including Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman.

“This terminal doesn’t just connect Lethbridge to the rest of the province, it connects the rest of the province to Lethbridge,” Spearman stated.

“We expect people to be visiting from other places and using this terminal.”

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In addition to housing local transit buses, the City has partnered with Red Arrow for an additional service option. Red Arrow gives users a chance to travel from Lethbridge to municipalities outside of the city, such as Calgary, Red Deer, Grand Prairie and Edmonton.

The ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Friday was done in a unique manner, with a Lethbridge Transit bus and Red Arrow bus serving as the cutters.

“This is a life-changing event for the City of Lethbridge. We had to get to 100,000 people before we got a bus terminal,” Spearman said, inciting a laugh from the crowd in attendance.

“But we have one now and the future is different for bus drivers in Lethbridge.”

Spearman also made note of the UPass, a partnership project with the University of Lethbridge that was implemented last year.

“This transit pass is built into students’ tuition and has had a huge uptick. Earlier this week, council heard from our finance department that transit ridership is forecast to be 16 per cent higher than budgeted this year, and that’s largely due to the success of the UPass,” he said.

Dignitaries at the grand opening of the terminal on Sept. 6 2019 (Lethbridge News Now)

“The combination of the UPass implementation and the opening of this amazing new building are both helping to make transit a more viable option for all residents.”

The new Park ‘n’ Ride Transit Terminal is fully accessible for residents and transit users with mobility issues. The building includes over 200 parking spaces, boosting parking in the downtown core.

“Everybody’s been complaining about the lack of parking downtown, especially those who live downtown,” Spearman remarked.

“There definitely was a demand for downtown parking, so that opens up exciting opportunities for growth and revitalization in downtown. This can be a catalyst for revitalizing of an area that was basically under-used previously in our downtown.”

He added that it features enough space for interior development.

The terminal features such amenities as transit pass purchasing services, indoor washrooms and a lost and found.