Back downstairs. The second floor in the front part of the terminal was only for Greyhound drivers. Transit Windsor drivers had a separate section at the back.
The now empty waiting room.
A strange little arched doorway.
Pay attention, Greyhound employees only…
The back room, looks like a cargo holding area.
Still some open seats in the restaurant.
It’s tough to describe how much the restaurant area still stunk like grease. It was pretty gross.
Up these stairs leads to the Transit Windsor Drivers Lounge.
Through this door takes you into the lounge.
An interesting arch splits the lounge in two.
Finally a parting ode to the toilet…
It seems rather wasteful and short sighted to have built the new bus station. For the amount of money spent on the new station I bet this station could have been restored back to the original look and modernized. For some reason the decision makers in this city always seem to equate newest to best. I guess it’s the same reason we’re getting a new Home Depot and Future Shop 2.5 km from where they are currently located. Sooner or later we’re going to pay for all this reckless sprawl.
Andrew – Its great to see these photos – sad also to see the neglect the building fell into. Maybe of interest – Greyhound in Windsor was part of a division called Eastern Canadian Greyhound Lines, based in Windsor. It was the smallest of all the Greyhound “companies”, back when the bus company was structured that way. It was also kind of an orphan – at one time owned by Greyhound Inc (US parent company) and then sold to Greyhound Lines of Canada. Neither companies’ history gives it more than a page or two -not much of its history remains. In routes, ECGL ran Detroit/ Windsor to Toronto (Local along Hwy 2, and later added express service along the 401 when it opened) and Detroit/ Windsor to Buffalo along Hwy 3 (at one time 3 times daily and possibly more in the early years). The hwy 3 service west of St Thomas ended about 10 years ago. There was also a local Belle River “suburban” trip run out of Windsor many years back. Up until the early 1980’s, there were metal signs suspended from the canopy at the head of each platform naming destinations and cities enroute that the buses served. ECGL stored, serviced and repaired their buses at a garage up the street(long since gone)- drivers collected buses there, deadheaded to Detroit where trips usually originated, then back across to Windsor and on to either Toronto or Buffalo. Some training like “skid control” for new drivers was done on an unused runway at Willow Run airport. Postcards of ECGL buses surface from time to time – taken at Blenheim, Wainfleet and at the Greyhound Post House in Talbotville, which was complete with dining room and fireplace . It would be great to see if any other photos of the terminal surface from years past. Jeff
i remember in the 50’s the bus station was great the whole eastern wall was like a newspaper/magazine stand where you could buy smokes ,chips candy and other items the sou wall had a bank of old wooden phone booths with the bifold doors and right down the center of the station where two rows of wooden back to back benches more comfortable than those tacky looking things they ended up with when it closed also the bathrooms were upstairs
Ah, the Dashboard restaurant, ate there several times when I worked at the Armouries, usually breakfast, they were open early, good coffee and not expensive. Waited for many, many buses also when I was going to school and work and usually huddled in the building in the winter where it was warmer. Will miss you old friend.
In the top picture, the main waiting room looks small. I remember it having a really high ceiling and quite a grand looking room, and along the way they have lowered it with a suspended ceiling. I dont know what the new station looks like today, but I agree, this one, if the structure itself was in good condition could have been brought back to something very useful again and the older features restored would look very good.
The only good out of closing it is the universities plan for it. If only all dreams came true.