Edmonton Transit Service Southgate Transit Centre

Opened	1977
Location	111 St/ 50 Ave
LRT Lines Served	Capital Line
Platform	Center island with on street stops
Passenger Access	Elevated from LRT station
Park and Ride	Yes, private
1978

Southgate dates from 1977 when it was the first transit centre on the Southside of Edmonton. As the route 9 trolley coach was being extended South from 65 Ave, it originally terminated at a temporary off street loop while the transit centre was being built. Once that was completed in 1977, the route 9 was extended South to this new terminus. The transit centre is located at the West end of the Southgate Shopping Centre parking lot. Over the years the transit centre and surroundings have changed significantly.
Initially trolleybuses entered at the North end of the transit centre, crossing the Northbound wire as they entered, and looped through the South end of the terminal.
On December 24, 1979 the new passenger shelter building opened. Built at a cost of $270,000, its design was meant to compliment the design of the Southgate Shopping Centre.
Next, the construction of Whitemud Drive and split overpasses for 111 St, Edmonton Transit used a portion of the former 111 St to create new entrance at the South end, which eliminated the need for the trolleybus wire to cross itself, and for buses to have to loop though the entire transit centre to turn back north. This probably happened sometime around 1988/ 1989.
Everything remained in that configuration until 2007. Southgate started on an expansion project that would bring the edge of the mall right up to the edge of the transit centre.
More relevant for transit, the SLRT was coming. Due to the construction of the new station, the entire transit centre was rebuilt with the transit centre platform being extended a bit to the north. That meant that ETS had to relocated the transit centre to a temporary location along 111 St at 54 Ave from July 1, 2007 - mid 2008.
Upon returning to the rebuilt Southgate, all of the construction was not yet finished on the main building, so in the meantime the modular shelters from the temporary Southgate were relocated to Southgate until the main building was open.
Following the opening on the main building in 2009, the modular shelters were relocated to Jasper Place for installation there to replace that transit centres original passenger shelter.
With the LRT RoW running down the middle of 111 St, buses returned to entering the transit centre from the North, like they had originally done.
By this time, Southgate had finished their expansion.
LRT service commenced on April 25, 2010.

Trolleybuses ceased regular operation to Southgate in 1993 when low floor buses were introduced and the route 9 became one of the routes to operate them.
Under Horizon 2000, 2 route 9 trippers were scheduled to operate with trolleybuses, doing single AM peak trips from Southgate to NAIT.
Artics came to Southgate in June 2001, again with the route 9, as this was their initial route to operate on in Edmonton.
The trolley wire came down in March 2007.
Southgate has had a bit of a history with regional services, albeit services that never did last long. First, a Leduc service was operated by PWT to the University with a stop at Southgate during the 1999-2000 time frame. The Camrose Connector had a stop here as well. During the short period that Devon operated a bus service contracted out to ETS, the Devon 570 operated from Southgate.
In addition to those services, Southgate has become an active stop for intercity buses. Although Kingsway/ RAH was the first to host intercity buses with Greyhound stopping there, Southgate started hosting EBus starting in 2020.
Since then, The Canada Bus, Rider Express, and most recently FlixBus have started using Southgate, and incidentally, eBus no longer stops there. Originally, Bay Q, the northernmost Northbound bay on the main platform was used by eBus and The Canada Bus. Rider Express was using Bay R, the streetside bays on 111 St. For September 2024, all intercity coach stops moved to the 111 St bay, and the route 9 was moved to Bay Q. This was a huge change (although only in a historical context) as the route 9 had always used the 111 St bay since the transit centre opened, either because it had trolleywire, or in more recent years because it could support artics. Although artic deployment has on the 9 has been on and off over the last 5 years or so, artics were removed again from the 9 for September 2024.
 

Original Transit Centre
Looking North towards the North end of Southgate. This was an early photo of mine, and no doubt I was really after a shot of 772, but it was a crappy sun angle and I wasn't close to the bus. Instead, I managed a photo showing this end of Southgate, and the rather unique wheelchair size aluminum shelter which features all plexiglass panels for some reason.	Looks south, and with on GM New Looks present. June 2001	1988/89 new entrance probably reusing part of the original 111 St. The trolley wire had just come down as preparations were underway for extending the LRT south. March 11, 2007	710 departs Southgate, in behind the expansion of the Southgate Shopping Centre is underway. It won't be long now until ETS moves to the temporary Soutghate Transit Centre.
Transit Centre Under Construction
Looking south, Southgate has moved back home, but still lots of construction. September 22, 2008	Looking north. October 8, 2008	Looking south along the South bus driveway. February 19, 2009	Looking South from the North end of the transit centre. June 12, 2009	Temporary shelter, originally installed at the temporary Southgate Transit Centre. June 12, 2009
Wide angle looking north. September 14, 2009	Telephoto looking north. It's looking close to completion. September 14, 2009	Temporary shelter at the North end of Southgate. September 28, 2009	Temporary shelter at the North end of Southgate. October 22, 2009
2009 Transit Centre
Looking south, with the transit centre building open, although the LRT with still 5 months from opening day. November 30, 2000	438 putting in an appearance at Southgate with the transit centre's artwork, that pair of feet, behind the bus. Today was the opening even for the SLRT extension to Southgate and Century Park, and the following day the extension will open for regular service. April 24, 2010.	Clock tower at Southgate. The original neon circle has been replaced with an LED string. It just doesn't look as good, March 8, 2021	I forget now what happened to cause this back up, but behind 6003 is 6004, and way at the back is 6002. March 8, 2021	Ebus #5726 negotiating Southgate Transit Centre. EBus no longer stops at Southgate. March 24, 2021
Rider Express with a 9 behind it. All intercity buses now stop at the same stop as the Rider Express is in this photo, and the 9 has moved into the teminal. October 5, 2022