The terminal site is bounded by Charles, Gaukel, Joseph, and Ontario Streets in Kitchener's downtown core. However, earlier in the 20th century the site was considered to be on the edge of downtown. This changed in 1947, when the Bullas department store opened on the site as the anchor for the Bullas Building, a mixed-use building which at various times was used for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. The Bullas brothers, Ross and Roy, had expanded to the site from an earlier location on Joseph Street which was used for their father's furniture storage and distribution business. The move coincided with a wave of postwar prosperity and suburbanization which created a greater demand for fine home goods such as furniture and appliances from Kitchener's manufacturers, but which would ultimately undermine the downtown commercial area with the construction of suburban shopping malls like the Fairview Park Mall in the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, Charles Street only ran as far east as Ontario Street, where it dead ended, and it was "little more than a lane". The Bullas move resulted in the addition of streetscape amenities such as streetlights and a small plaza with an ornamental concrete fountain, the sculptures from which are now owned by the City of Kitchener and displayed at the Centre in the Square several blocks to the northeast. Pressure mounted from local groups advocating an extension of Charles Street, which included the Bullas brothers. By the late 1950s, Charles was extended to Benton Street through an intersection with Queen Street, creating irregular curves in an otherwise straight downtown street. The extension was carved through a downtown block bounded by Ontario, King, Benton, and Church Streets, and led to a number of historic commercial buildings being razed. Ultimately it joined up Charles with Alma Street, the latter of which was incorporated into Charles Street. Subsequent widenings would devastate the old stretch of Alma Street and create an auto-oriented landscape which proved advantageous for bus operations.
The terminal
The building, which was designed by the local modernist architect John Lingwood, was completed in 1988 by the City of Kitchener, which operated Kitchener Transit, GRT's forerunner, at the time. It replaced a facility at Duke and Scott streets, which had become overcrowded. Ownership has since transferred to the Region of Waterloo, GRT's operator. In 2002, the Transfers Café moved into the terminal's restaurant location, which it occupied until the closure of the building. Local bus service at the terminal ceased on June 24, 2019, with the launch of the Ion rapid transit system and reorganization of bus routes to serve it.
Facilities
When it provided GRT service, the main terminal building contained the ticket desk, plus washrooms and administrative space on the upper level; the lower level had a licensed restaurant and walk-in café, plus an ATM. Access between the floors was by escalator or elevator. Access to the bus platforms from the entry structure was by an enclosed, elevated walkway. Each of the two island platform groups have a 'pod' containing stairwells and an elevator, which also served as enclosed, climate-controlled waiting space for passengers, with a total of 20 bus stop locations. Since the stop of GRT services, only a small interior space on the lower level serves as a waiting area; the rest of the building is now closed to the public. The Greyhound and Megabus stops are beside the main terminal building, with GO transit buses using a platform at the northwest corner of the facility effective April 8, 2017. A small modular office handles Greyhound sales outdoors beside the platform during service hours.
Future
The Charles St. Terminal will become redundant in the near future due to a pair of Regional plans. The first, with the implementation of a rapid-transit backbone which decentralized bus routes and required fewer platforms at a single downtown location, took effect June 24, 2019 and saw Grand River Transit buses no longer serve the terminal. The second, the plan to build a multi-modal hub at King and Victoria streets to handle train, bus, and rapid-transit services, would also replace the existing railway station; this hub does not yet have a firm date for completion. GRT customer service functions moved to a location at 105 King Street East in July 2019, where they will be served in the interim. The LRT's Victoria Park station is located just across Gaukel Street from the terminal.
