YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

[Leo_Chan]

Does anyone know if the "coffee station" with have heating or heat lamps?

 

[salsa]

Vaughan Centre Rapidway Update

April 14, 2017

 

[ssiguy2]

While I applaud York Regions emphasis on VIVA Transitways and making sure that transit is reliable and comfortable, I have to ask are these "rapidways" truly rapid or just bus versions of TC? York Region's transit ridership numbers have been stalled for years unlike Mississauga and Brampton's. There are so many stops one and I have seen videos of the system at work and they look reliable and comfortable {which I am not downplaying as those are important attributes} but under no circumstance do they look rapid unlike Missisauga's Transitway which is truly rapid transit and the best piece of transit infrastructure the GTA has produced in a generation.

 

[LNahid2000]

While I applaud York Regions emphasis on VIVA Transitways and making sure that transit is reliable and comfortable, I have to ask are these "rapidways" truly rapid or just bus versions of TC? York Region's transit ridership numbers have been stalled for years unlike Mississauga and Brampton's. There are so many stops one and I have seen videos of the system at work and they look reliable and comfortable {which I am not downplaying as those are important attributes} but under no circumstance do they look rapid unlike Missisauga's Transitway which is truly rapid transit and the best piece of transit infrastructure the GTA has produced in a generation.

I agree...the Viva Transitways aren't really that competitive with other forms of transportation in York Region. I once biked on highway 7 and got to my destination faster than Viva.

The Mississauga Transitway is incredible though. There are certain restaurants I like to go to in Mississauga and I find myself going there a lot more because the Transitway gets me there so easily and quickly. I use it almost weekly and have noticed that ridership has been steadily increasing on the route, and people are getting on and off at most stations now, where before most people would just get on as Islington and get off at City Centre.

 

[Megaton327]

The Viva rapidways actually go along routes on which people want to travel, the MiWay transit way is largely in the middle of nowhere next to the highway. It connects some major roads with many routes on them to allow a functioning grid-based system with easy east-west transfers e.g. to Square One and the future Eglinton West LRT, but in and of itself I don't think there are many people who walk to one rapidway stop, get off at another, and are at their final destination. Viva's was built as an upgrade to existing high-demand routes. Viva's rapidway goes through the busy cores of Richmond Hill, Markham, Thornhill, and Vaughan, and will connect to VMC once it's open.

Also, there's no real comparison--MiWay's is an all-new ground-up construction of a dedicated roadway with few or no interactions with other traffic, Viva's runs in the median of roads and does have to deal with intersections. Apples and Oranges. It's like the people who compared the Scarborough LRT with TTC streetcars downtown--they're almost completely unrelated.

 

[LNahid2000]

but in and of itself I don't think there are many people who walk to one rapidway stop, get off at another, and are at their final destination.

I'm not sure this is the case with Viva either, considering how spread out York Region is. It may end up being this way in the future though, after all those condos go up along Highway 7 and Yonge.

 

[Megaton327]

I'm not sure this is the case with Viva either, considering how spread out York Region is. It may end up being this way in the future though, after all those condos go up along Highway 7 and Yonge.

On the outer portions of Viva, no, but on Yonge especially in downtown Richmond Hill, and in Markham, I'd expect significant local usage. There are definitely transfer riders, don't get me wrong, but if you even look at street view at the average MiWay transitway stop vs the average current or future Viva rapidway stop, there's a big difference.

 

[lead82]

The quality of the Viva rapidways is really good as is the road pavings and markings. I too question the ridership on Viva. The Yonge ridership is strong. The highway 7 ridership is very weak. The wide roads and huge distances in York Region detract from this. Also, Viva does indeed make way too many stops to be called rapid transit. Its comfortable and reliable yes, but rapid it is not. The highway 7 buses are rarely packed during rush hour, except for the student rush. Outside of that time period the buses are empty. Weekends/holidays/evenings/daytime, the buses run with a handful of people on them in the Vaughan side. On the Markham side they are more used as there are more things near Highway 7 close to Viva. Hopefully with the rapidway construction through Thornhill, there will be a ridership boost as it makes travel easier (but not necessarily faster).

My one only beef looking at the photos and seeing it in real life is why in the hell they didn't bury the hydro cables. They look awful and detract for the look of this urbanized roadway. It gives it this rural feel to see the old wooden hydro towers. They had to dig up the road to widen it, why not bury the wires at the same time. It is a minimal incremental cost. Since it hasn't been done, it likely never will be. A complete missed opportunity.

 

[amnesiajune]

My one only beef looking at the photos and seeing it in real life is why in the hell they didn't bury the hydro cables. They look awful and detract for the look of this urbanized roadway. It gives it this rural feel to see the old wooden hydro towers.

Whatever's giving you the rural feel definitely isn't the hydro poles. Unless Queen & Bathurst and Little Italy also feel un-urbanized.

 

[jys]

I am assuming that new condo developments around VMC will help with ridership on the Vaughan side.

 

[minilude]

Any one know the potential of "signalling priority"? there are so many intersections on hwy7 and the single lane under the 404 bridge looks embarrassing. The signal is not smart at all.

 

[MisterF]

Whatever's giving you the rural feel definitely isn't the hydro poles. Unless Queen & Bathurst and Little Italy also feel un-urbanized.

Un-urbanized no. But definitely uglier than they would be without the above ground hydro infrastructure.

 

[smallspy]

While I applaud York Regions emphasis on VIVA Transitways and making sure that transit is reliable and comfortable, I have to ask are these "rapidways" truly rapid or just bus versions of TC? York Region's transit ridership numbers have been stalled for years unlike Mississauga and Brampton's. There are so many stops one and I have seen videos of the system at work and they look reliable and comfortable {which I am not downplaying as those are important attributes} but under no circumstance do they look rapid unlike Missisauga's Transitway which is truly rapid transit and the best piece of transit infrastructure the GTA has produced in a generation.

The issue is that MT and BT have chosen to invest in continued service improvements, in the sense of rationalizing routes and making service more frequent, whereas YRT has been starved for funding to improve the services beyond where they are and always have been. Look at BT specifically - their infrastructure improvements are quite minimal when compared to MT and YRT, and yet their ridership has been improving by a very substantial amount every year for the past 5.

Any one know the potential of "signalling priority"? there are so many intersections on hwy7 and the single lane under the 404 bridge looks embarrassing. The signal is not smart at all.

All VIVA routes and vehicles have signal priority installed, in the sense that a bus can speed up a green light, or hold one when approaching an intersection. But it only activates once the vehicle gets to 3 minutes late compared to the schedule.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

York Region has to start focusing on local service as well. Routes like Bur Oak in Markham should have Sunday service, and running buses past 7pm for some routes on Saturday like they do in Durham, Oakville/Burlington and Peel should be a priority.

 

[TOareaFan]

The issue is that MT and BT have chosen to invest in continued service improvements, in the sense of rationalizing routes and making service more frequent, whereas YRT has been starved for funding to improve the services beyond where they are and always have been. Look at BT specifically - their infrastructure improvements are quite minimal when compared to MT and YRT, and yet their ridership has been improving by a very substantial amount every year for the past 5.

I think what BT has shown is that passengers/customers are far less hung up on transit technology or shiny/new infrastructure than we think.....what attracts riders/customers is being able to reliably predict that if they walk to stop "X" at most times of the day there will be something coming along to pick them up. BT has invested in buses and increased frequency and hours...a wee bit of Zum thrown in but most of the investment is in buses...the result:

I think the clogged streetcars on King show the same thing......most people could avoid those by some circuitous route that was part subway part bus....but they know that if they stand at any corner intersecting with King there will be a streetcar (perhaps crazy full) that they can cram onto and get to their destination.