YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

[Transportfan]

On behalf of Brampton, I would like to thank York Region for building the Viva Orange stations west of VMC, as the Initial Business Case for the Queen Street - Highway 7 BRT, says Viva Orange should terminate at VMC. On the plus side, compared to Viva frequency, an improved 501 Queen Zum would likely be found more than satisfactory for YRT Riders.

I'd say the TTC fare refund to York U via the subway should be implemented and the 501 eliminated and have the 501A terminate at Highway 407 Station

 

[Transportfan]

If the sections outside Toronto were operated as separate routes there would be unnecessary linear transfers and overall worse connectivity, especially because the sections outside Toronto would then no longer have a one-seat ride to the subway and would also be very short bus routes mostly leading nowhere.

That makes sense. They don't do that in Mississauga (except for the Airport Rd./Dixon corridor) because of lack of street continuity or streets that end /converge near Islington (soon Kipling) Station. It wouldn't make sense to have the TTC 50 Burnhamthorpe bus run to Erin Mills when the bulk of ridership and route miles are in Mississauga.

The Eglinton corridor is a less of a clear-cut situation though.

 

[Divas S.]

Even the mississauga transitway gets service of every 3-4 minutes (normally), which imo is way too overdeveloped. I think viva and the transitway should switch frequencies and it would be a win win situation

dear go no, pre-pandemic the transitway routes were some of the most overcrowded on the whole system

 

[H4F33Z]

dear go no, pre-pandemic the transitway routes were some of the most overcrowded on the whole system

They're still pretty busy now imo.

 

[Divas S.]

They're still pretty busy now imo.

damn, I wasn't sure I haven't used it in a while

 

[superelevation]

I don't see funding come for this any time soon. It's frankly not needed. The Newmarket portion was a colossal waste of money as the investment is nowhere near warranted for the low density and lack of intensification along that corridor.

The big question is what did the massive investment and overbuilding get York Region? Has transit service improved? (on the Viva routes yes, but the other routes not so much), has transit ridership grown or model split improved? Not as far as I can tell, even though the population has increased dramatically since the Viva program started about 15 years ago.

Viva/YRT should focus less on capital intensive projects and focus on improving the service that exists today. 15 min service on a BRT corridor is terrible.

I hope to see a requirement for minimum service level in the future. What it feels like is that York basically took a ton of money to make streets and transit facilities look nice, they should have to pay to run service as a condition of getting that money. Would reduce waste in some places and net us more service in others.

 

[Sandpit]

I hope to see a requirement for minimum service level in the future. What it feels like is that York basically took a ton of money to make streets and transit facilities look nice, they should have to pay to run service as a condition of getting that money. Would reduce waste in some places and net us more service in others.

I keep saying it, but 24-hour service on Yonge. Ideally Jane and Highway 7 too, but let's be realistic.

 

[Undead]

I keep saying it, but 24-hour service on Yonge. Ideally Jane and Highway 7 too, but let's be realistic.

Also 10 minute peak and 20 minute off peak service at worst.

 

[Haydenpoon]

Also 10 minute peak and 20 minute off peak service at worst.

YRT has a tradition of not following their plans.

 

[sche]

View attachment 292130
YRT has a tradition of not following their plans.

This is from Viva's 2005 launch video:

In the video they also showed a picture of one of the old Viva bus shelters and called it "a transit stop that feels like a spaceport" and called a Viva bus "the transit vehicle of the future" with "seats so comfy they mess with your head"

Yeah...

Source:

(You should watch this if you have time, it's actually quite amusing. Would recommend watching at 2x speed though)

 

[micheal_can]

Also 10 minute peak and 20 minute off peak service at worst.

It is sad that 20 minutes on a BRT is considered good. Where I live, buses run half hour or better, and they are not BRT. In fact, the busy routes are at 15 minute service.

 

[Undead]

It is sad that 20 minutes on a BRT is considered good. Where I live, buses run half hour or better, and they are not BRT. In fact, the busy routes are at 15 minute service.

I don't consider 20 minutes good. It's the minimum in my view. Rush hour should be 5 and off peak 12-15.

 

[anb]

I keep saying it, but 24-hour service on Yonge. Ideally Jane and Highway 7 too, but let's be realistic.

Highway 7 between highway 50 and Promenade strangely has a schedule that could make it 24 hour in a way. There’s just a 70-90 minute gap between the last bus and first bus of the day. That being said, they couldn’t have added 1 or 2 extra trips to actually make it true 24 hour service...

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Hate the fact they started the project late
Hate the fact they gave themselves way too much time to complete bus lanes and move some utilities in order to look like they completed on time
Hate that the project its not actually done. Many areas still unfinished, few if any YRT shelters, Yonge & Garden sidewalk not complete, plantings not complete
Hate that traffic during a pandemic is high due to the poorly timed and long duration traffic lights. Cant wait (sarcasm) until traffic volumes go back to pre-pandemic levels
Love that the mess is mostly gone and VIVANext will be gone from this area

- agree
- Under promise and over deliver
- agree
- ?
- ?

 

[cplchanb]

Hate the fact they started the project late
Hate the fact they gave themselves way too much time to complete bus lanes and move some utilities in order to look like they completed on time
Hate that the project its not actually done. Many areas still unfinished, few if any YRT shelters, Yonge & Garden sidewalk not complete, plantings not complete
Hate that traffic during a pandemic is high due to the poorly timed and long duration traffic lights. Cant wait (sarcasm) until traffic volumes go back to pre-pandemic levels
Love that the mess is mostly gone and VIVANext will be gone from this area

-dude just 15 years ago they had ZERO BRT and yrt was only 4 years old. They brought the BRT concept to the gta and everyone else has been copying the concept since (zum, miway)
-to be fair, looking at all other road projects in the gta can you honestly say that they couldve gone significantly faster?
its definitely not asian fast but at least they didnt embroil themselves with delay after delay a la ttc projects...
-their priority was always to do the BRT first and finish the planters in the spring. considering its now winter and pandemic do you honestly think there will be so many people using the sidewalks that it will be a genuine issue?
-first world issues
-do you even take transit our youre just one of those armchair critics?