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York Region Transit: Viva service thread

Yrt is a giant investment in fake transit, .while remaining entirely car dependant and hostile to walking. It's worse than doing nothing because it's saying "look, we built it and transit in general is unappealing and can never work".
 
Yes that is what I have been saying. VIVA is supposed to be (or at least is seen as) the spine for the network, roughly analogous to the subway in Toronto. However there are few if any feeder routes, and routing seems to focus on point to point, single bus, trips. It's as if they have completely ignored the possibility that someone might transfer from a local route to something like a trunk or VIVA route.
 
1overcosc said:
York Region is starting to head down the path most American cities are following... a focus on flashy & pretty capital projects instead of real service improvements.

When you look at York Region's failures to grow ridership despite its large, growing population and accelerating pace of intensification, it's pretty sad. Especially when you compare it to places like, say, Brampton, which hasn't even intensified at all really and is still just building subdivisions, and yet has still made meaningful improvements to transit service, with healthy ridership growth to show for it.
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Mmm, York Region's ridership went from like 7 million when they amalgamated, in 2001, to over 23 million now. Yeah, the growth has slowed the past few years but I think most American cities would kill for those numbers.

I have some issues with things they've done the past few years but I think it's also fair to say they've been transitioning out of that rapid growth phase into a more mature system, particularly with the Spadina Subway coming online. I think their hearts are (or at least have been) in the right place but you're not going to change the culture overnight. There's too many people - in YR and especially in Toronto - who say, "Bah, it's all auto-oriented development, so what's the point of transit?" (see above!)

But , you've got people fighting against, say, a BRT route through Thornhill, including the area's MPP (!!), and York Region forges ahead. Just for fun? No, because you're swimming upstream trying to do that in a suburb.

I don't they would dispute there's a lot of work to do and maybe their priorities are misplaced in some regards but I don't buy that some of the big moves they've made (particularly amalgamating and Viva) just for show or otherwise not "meaningful" improvements.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
Mmm, York Region's ridership went from like 7 million when they amalgamated, in 2001, to over 23 million now. Yeah, the growth has slowed the past few years but I think most American cities would kill for those numbers.
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Some of that was legitimate growth to be sure. But some of that growth was the result of YRT taking over several GO bus routes, including the Yonge Street lines, once GO's busiest bus services. But what used to be Vaughan Transit didn't improve much since YRT's takeover. There's still only two or three buses five days a week headed to Kleinburg, which with recent growth, isn't Pierre Burton's little village anymore. Want to go to the McMichael Gallery? Better have a car.
 
Let's not forget YRT has one of the largest coverage areas of any transit system in Canada. When you break down by area served and population it's got one of the toughest dynamics to serve. It's a public service so they can't just cut service in rural communities and that unfortunately takes money out of the pot for some of the busier routes.

I think as the BRT comes online we'll start seeing more of a shift towards treating it as a back-bone upon which multiple routes can transfer to it as opposed to requiring like 80% of the routes in southern York Region to End at Finch Station.
 
To add to this:
BMO said:
Let's not forget YRT has one of the largest coverage areas of any transit system in Canada. When you break down by area served and population it's got one of the toughest dynamics to serve. It's a public service so they can't just cut service in rural communities and that unfortunately takes money out of the pot for some of the busier routes.

I think as the BRT comes online we'll start seeing more of a shift towards treating it as a back-bone upon which multiple routes can transfer to it as opposed to requiring like 80% of the routes in southern York Region to End at Finch Station.
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Vcb7cND.png


From the YRT 2016-2020 Strategic Plan (PDF).

And in that same plan, there are plans for a frequent transit network (15 min. frequency or less) comprising both conventional YRT routes and VIVA corridors, through a somewhat glacial rollout period:

xOmGMeQ.png


So while progress is going to be incredibly slow its definitely a step in the right direction.
 
An interesting blog post from a Toronto sign maker who is contracted by YRT to make move and adjust the affected businesses' signage during construction,
Portable Business Signs Along Hwy7 During Metrolinx Construction To Become Permanent Pylon Signs Upon Completion , not as boring as it sounds - Filled with interesting details . .
"There are a lot of factors that go into the positioning of business signs, and especially sign towers. The decision makers must consider general proximity, and safety, which is more than just visibility, and economy (as in who’s paying the most rent). Some landlords create hierarchy on sign towers in accordance with the amount of rent each tenant is paying, while others simply assign positions based on unit numbers (1 on top, 2 below and so on). The YRRT dictates how much room they need for the road widening, then the City of Vaughan defines the distance that commercial signs must be setback from the property line, which is usually about 2 meters."
 
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ssiguy2 said:
Curious.............does Halton Hills not have a transit system?
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Nope. The closest thing is the GO Transit 31/33 bus between Guelph, Brampton, and Toronto, via Acton and Georgetown.

Halton Hills and Caledon remain the only GTHA municipalities without public transit - it might not be much (and it isn't) but DRT and YRT serve some very rural areas of Durham and York Regions.
 
Anyone have recent ridership numbers ?
 
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