History of Hurdman Station

Since 1983, Hurdman Station has been a major transfer station for OC Transpo as it was previously a junction point for buses heading east towards Orleans from downtown, and buses heading to the southeast and south end of the city limits.

The Bus Station (1983-2015, 2015-2017)

The original station building, which was set up in a unique way for the Ottawa Transitway system by being one large island platform with buses moving clockwise around it, was built in the early years of the Transitway in 1983 at a cost of $2.9 million. The station was built on empty parkland that was mainly a former covered city landfill. The name Hurdman comes from the surname of one of the original settlers of the area. Railways used to be very present in the Hurdman area, but were mainly gone by the time the 417 Highway was constructed in the 1960s. When the station first opened in 1983, it was only connected to a short section of Transitway that crossed over the Rideau River to Lees, the same bridge that the LRT crosses over the Rideau River today. The original bus station also had a much larger bus layup area, about 30 to 40 official spots not including the shoulder around the bus station loop. Today, there are about 13 layup spots. 

There were some minor changes that happened between 1999 and 2000: a bus operator building was constructed and the shallow bus bays were removed to make a smooth bus stop oval. In the enclosed bus station area there was also a convenience store, that will return with the new permanent LRT station.

In September 2015, the old bus station was closed in order to vacate space where a new permanent bus loop would be constructed for the LRT. In preparation for the switch over, a temporary station was built. The day this switch over happened, there was major gridlock along the length of the Transitway, due to there being a complicated traffic pattern around the station. Some passengers even reported it taking 45 minutes to get from Lycée Claudel Station (one station away) to Hurdman. This temporary station was built in a similar fashion and style as the first one, however, it lacked many amenities including large bus shelters and a large platform, which, during rush hour, could be very chaotic, as the number of buses passing through did not change at all.

The new permanent bus loop opened on June 22, 2017 with buses returning to the location of the original station. Immediately after, the temporary loop was closed and demolished.