Mackenzie King is a major station on the Ottawa Transitway. It is served by all three of OC Transpo's principal routes along with all express routes and several crosstown routes. It consists of reserved bus lanes on the Mackenzie King Bridge over the Rideau Canal, with indoor waiting areas attached to the adjacent Rideau Centre for westbound buses and the National Defence building for eastbound ones; the two sides are linked by crosswalks and pedestrian underpasses. It is one of the busiest stations, due to the high density, key connections and presence of numerous trip generators. There is also an OC Transpo shop in the Rideau Centre which supplies bus tickets, passes, and maps.West of the station, the transitway splits into reserved bus lanes on the one-way streets Albert and Slater which handle buses through central Ottawa; to the east, it runs in bus lanes through to Laurier station.Before its cancellation, the terminus of the extended O-Train line would have been just east of Mackenzie King station, along with a possibility of an expanded bus terminal. The project was cancelled on December 14, 2006.Most local routes serving downtown as well as a connection to STO bus service are located on Rideau Street on the other side of the Rideau Centre. Due to the role of the Rideau Centre as a pedestrian link between local Rideau Street routes and transitway routes, its hallways are kept open past normal shopping hours until 1:00 AM. After this point, all transitway routes are re-routed to Rideau Street to allow the mall to close its doors before bus service ends; other routes end service around 12:30 AM.
