Edmonton Transit Service Mill Woods Transit Centre- Valley Line

With the building of the Southeast Valley Line LRT to Mill Woods, ETS needed to relocate their Mill Woods Transit Centre to meet the LRT closer to it's intended terminus on 28 Ave, between 66 St and Hewes Way. The new transit centre is on an East/ West oriented site that was empty space between the Mill Woods Town Centre and Mill Woods Town Centre Professional Building and their associated parking lots.
The design is really unlike anything ETS has employed before. It employs East and Westbound lanes, with perimeter bus bays. No centre island here. This design was billed as as "European-style" bus terminal. The intention is for the transit centre to take up less space, while also being able to build shops and what not along the perimeter. There is no ability for a bus to turn around as is common at most transit centres. It seems ETS did try, but that didn't work too well from the testing I saw! Consequently, when bus schedules do require a bus to interline with a route facing the opposite direction in the transit centre, the running board includes time and a deadhead routing that takes the bus along some combination of roads to orient the bus in the correct place in the transit. This is further complicated due to the location of the West entry/ exit to 66 St having to traverse the Mill Woods Town Centre parking lot. This is the first time ETS buses (40' and 60') have regularly operated through a mall parking lot to reach a transit centre so part of the work included reconfiguring the parking lot to taking into consideration bus operations, as well as upgrades to support the weight of frequent buses passing . Although there is a roadway leading to 28 Ave from the West entry/ exit to the Mill Woods Transit Centre, this is not used for one reason or another. It may have not been upgraded, or perhaps having to potentially cross the VLSE LRT twice might have been off putting to make use of it.
The transit centre features a large fully enclosed passenger shelter, as well as a smaller open air shelter. Regular bus shelters are located at a number of bus bays around the perimeter. A covered walkway connects the transit centre to the LRT Station, about 100m away.
The transit centre was ready by late 2020/ early 2021 which coincided well with the delayed rollout of the BNR, scheduled for April 25, 2021. April 24, 2021 was the last day for the original Mill Woods Transit Centre, and sometime early on April 25 crews were out removing fencing to open the new transit centre.
With delays to the opening of the VLSE LRT, precursor bus service operated from Mill Woods Transit Centre. First, the 510x provide an express service to Downtown along a somewhat similar route to the pre-BNR routes to Downtown. With the opening of the Davies Transit Centre, this was replaced by the 73, 3 months later split into the 73A and 73B, following a routing more closely aligned to the VLSE and it's future stops.
On Demand came to Mill Woods Transit Centre in February 2022 to serve Charleswood.
Beaumont Transit arrived on May 1, 2023. Initially contracted out to ETS, Beaumont operated to Century Park. During Covid, Beaumont suspended the service, and with the contract up for renewal they put put it out to tender with PWT being awarded the contract. When Beaumont Transit resumed service, it was now after the BNR had been launched. My observations were that Century Park had more bus traffic than before, and there wasn't much space now for Beaumont. What ever the reason, Beaumont Transit was moved to Heritage Valley where their riders would have had to transfer to a 700x to access additional ETS services. With Beaumont Transit able to move into Mill Woods Transit Centre, a shorter trip than to Heritage Valley or Century Park, they were able to get away with using a 1 bus, and used the savings into increase service on April 2, 2024 to provide service on weekdays from 6:00-19:00 and on Saturday from 9:00-16:00.
With the transit centre being so young, there isn't hasn't been any significant changes.
Bay J, Eastbound far West end is a drop off zone.
There was a Bay S facing south on Hewes Way that was labeled for School Service, but I don't believe it was ever used and later removed.

Construction of the transit centre, looking East. May 19. 2020	Structure for the main passenger building going up, and you can see the covered walkway heading towards the LRT station. September 1, 2020	Starting to look complete with concrete work done and shelter structures looking like the exterior is done. October 10, 2020	ETS bus testing, attempting to make a loop in the terminal. I don't believe it made it and had to back up. November 4, 2020	Looking Northeast with buses testing in the terminal. November 4, 2020
4882 with the main building behind it. Those fence posts are high. The finished fences were about half that high. November 4, 2020	Wider angle. The main shelter is to the left while the open shelter is to the right, with the walkway to the LRT in between. November 4, 2020	Looking Northwest towards the main building with ETS supervisor on site for bus testing. November 4, 2020	Signage and a bus. November 4, 2020	Image of the future transit centre and surrounding area. November 4, 2020
More signage and buses. November 4, 2020	Facing Southwest along the Eastbound lane with 3 buses testing the transit centre. November 4, 2020	Facing West towards the shelter structures. November 4, 2020	Again, facing Southwest but now only days away from opening. Bus shelters and signs installed. Note how much shorter the wood fence is compared to the posts in the shot of 4882. April 21, 2024	Facing west towards the shelter structures with furniture, bus shelter, and bus stop signs installed. April 21, 2024
The evening before opening. Facing Northwest. April 24, 2021	The fence waiting to come down in a few hours to open the terminal, as a bus heads for the original Mill Woods Transit Centre. April 24, 2021	Opening day. New bus routes, new transit centre. Facing Northeast along the Eastbound lane. April 25, 2021	A westbound 56 on opening day, with a 523 following. The concrete planters do a good job of encouraging pedestrians to use the marked crosswalks. April 25, 2021	Looking East with the long shadows from a setting sun. The message on the sign board was certainly an indication of the times. October 19, 2021