Is the Vivastation itself still there?
No, besides the ZUM bus shelter, all the bus shelters have been removed. The concrete base and railings for the bus stops are still there though.
I was always under the impression that York did not want busses on their campus.
I can see YRT/VIVA as wanting the focus to be on their jewel VMC and shortening routes does save some money.
You may be correct on that front, but also wrong cause there seems to be a mother-load of bureaucracy in this issue.
A letter sent from the "Keep York Moving" campaign to the Regional Clerk indicated in that York University may have been a large factor in ending bus service in the quote:
"We believe that York University’s request that there be no buses on campus after the opening of the subway had a strong influence on the insertion of this clause. Once York University provides a clear statement that YRT buses are invited back to campus permanently, we believe there might then be the political will on all sides to reopen the contract."
But, York University released
this letter last year clearly stating (even bolding the statement) that they will welcome YRT back onto campus until fare integration is in place and released
this letter a month later indicating that they were disappointed in both Metrolinx and the YRT for ending bus service onto campus without fare integration. On the TTC front, the day before YRT cancelled bus service, there was this quote from the TYSSE thread:
According to a TTC Customer Service Agent, this was a unilateral move by YRT which took many at the TTC by surprise. Yes there is that "Binding Agreement", but that agreement presumes that there would be fare integration by now, and the TTC wasn't going to force them to withdraw service without fare integration in place (plus if you read the agreement, it only mentions "north-south routes" anyway). If he's right, this is something that YRT wants to do (for whatever reason) and they're just using the agreement as an excuse.
Just to add on with GO Transit as they have a similar debacle at York University, The Star reported that York University was willing to accommodate GO buses inside the Commons if Metrolinx reinstated service from
this article. I naturally assumed that they would also be fine with YRT buses as the old YRT terminal was out of the way from most pedestrian traffic, unlike the GO buses which stop in the commons (the article also states that York has plans to pedestrianize the commons so its surprising that they were so open to allowing GO back onto campus).
So my take is that the YRT (and by extension Metrolinx) are trying to cut corners in their budget and is using this as an excuse. Transit demand for universities is pretty inelastic so my best guess is that they don't have much of a motivation for spending extra money to convenience riders who are using their services either way (YRT puts an initial cost of
$6.3 million and an annual cost of $4.1 million to reinstate bus service).
Another interesting point from the letter was that they were planning for a U-Pass at York that would have allowed for unlimited travel on Brampton Transit, TTC and YRT for $105-$110 a month (would have been packaged into a $420-$440 deal per a semester). However, they would have forced all students to pay for this so this sucks if you are a GO Transit commuter or live on residence. I personally would never vote for something like this despite benefiting the most from it (I find it too unfair that someone else is compensating for my trip with zero benefit to themselves).
