Undead
Senior Member
IIRC Vaughan had better service pre-COVID on the Barrie line than Brampton did on the Kitchener route.
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YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)
- Thread starter waterloowarrior
- Start date
anb
Active Member
Brampton also has Pearson/UPX as another option which can easily be accessed by the express bus from BCC (and the future Airport Rd Zum extension coming hopefully this September). Even before the pandemic, Brampton did have a ton of options accessing the train network even if it had to be done with MiWay or Viva as a last mile. We already know about the 501 Zum that goes to VMC to connect with Line 1, but the only routes that cross into Toronto proper from Brampton is 11/511 Steeles, and 50 Gore Rd, which will then have a connection with the Finch West LRT at Humber College so that writes itself off. Even getting to Renforth via the MiWay 100/107 at the Airport Link Train stations could be accounted for Brampton in the future when the Eglinton extension is finished, having both it and the Mississauga Transitway as the connections.
Sandpit
Active Member
As someone else here suggested, they should have left the Major Mac stop on-street and built the Viva stop at Yonge/Harding. Right now, there’s only one condo tower and a senior’s residence there, but five more are in the planning/approval stages. Add the popular Hmart and there should be sufficient trip generators at that intersection.
And the main problem with the barriers isn’t the barriers themselves, it’s that they had to leave gaps for the many driveways on the east side, rendering them completely useless. And if the west side ever gets built up, they’ll have to leave gaps there too.
dad pad
New Member
It should be noted that far fewer users would be taking dangerous shortcuts if the service was more frequent and less erratic
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
Here's a possibility. What if instead of Viva Green and Viva Silver having their stops on Major Mackenzie, they diverted to Yonge, Hopkins and Atkinson or Arnold with dedicated bus lanes, and have a "super viva station" on Yonge with 4 platforms?
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ARG1
Senior Member
1) No need for 4 platforms, Viva Blue at most comes every 5 minutes (when you include Viva Blue 'A' during rush hours), and Viva Silver is planned to come every 10 minutes. Viva Green is unknown atm but if I were to guess would probably be the same, 10 minutes. The current platforms accommodate 2 fully articulated busses, or in other words the current setup is fine.
2) Viva Green is meant to terminate at Mackenzie Health, one of the largest hospitals in the region, so no it will not be looping like that.
3) This is such an odd way to fix a mistake. The solution to fix a poorly designed station... is to hamper 2 other Viva lines to run an awkward route to better serve that station? I'm not sure that's a good solution, especially when quite reasonably a lot of those passengers want to head north into RHC.
ViveleCanada
Active Member
In the latest YRT service changes (for July 4) it seems they are trying to address the transfer issue by rerouting the 25 on: Harding Boulevard, Yonge Street, Hopkins Street and Addison Street. From my interpretation, the route they described sounds rather convoluted and not too sure what the logic was behind this route as I think detouring on either Atkinson or Arnold and then heading east/west on Hopkins street would have made more sense (similar to @Leo_Chan 's concept). I guess they wanted to also serve the suburban division south of Major Mack.
Here was my interpretation of the route they were describing:
From west to east, the 25 turns right on Harding boulevard, makes a left on Addison street, makes another right on Hopkins street before turning left on Yonge and returning onto Major Mack.
I really like @Leo_Chan 's concept so hopefully the YRT goes with that setup for the future VIVA routes rather than the one they went for with the 25. I also don't see how Leo's concept routing is really hampering operations on VIVA Green or Silver since both would be terminating around Yonge street. This wouldn't be too different to how certain bus routes make detours into bus terminals.
Here was my interpretation of the route they were describing:
From west to east, the 25 turns right on Harding boulevard, makes a left on Addison street, makes another right on Hopkins street before turning left on Yonge and returning onto Major Mack.
I really like @Leo_Chan 's concept so hopefully the YRT goes with that setup for the future VIVA routes rather than the one they went for with the 25. I also don't see how Leo's concept routing is really hampering operations on VIVA Green or Silver since both would be terminating around Yonge street. This wouldn't be too different to how certain bus routes make detours into bus terminals.
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Haydenpoon
Active Member
It isn't what they are describing. According to the new system map, they are simply reversing the street order of the loop, from clockwise to anti-clockwise, and adding a stop at Hopkins/Yonge. It will have absolutely no help to those coming from east of Yonge. Also, the bus will now need to wait for 2 left-turn signals, potentially wasting 4 mins.
ViveleCanada
Active Member
Oh, so it was worse than I thought it would be. Plus the map still shows the Major Mack VIVA stop at Yonge & Major Mack when that is clearly not the case. I think this just confirms everyone running the YRT have clearly never used the YRT.
ARG1
Senior Member
More like they needed to do some extra revisions on the Rapidway plan. The only solution to the problem is maybe have the busses run down Hopkins from Major Mack to Yonge, but even then this isn't a pretty alternative.
dad pad
New Member
Coolstar
Senior Member
Attachments
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
It's happening. Pedestrian enhancements at Yonge and Major Mackenzie intersection http://www.vivanext.com/assets/emailAssets/CB_Y2_2021_08_30/CB_Y2_2021_08_30.htm
As I predicted this in this post, but probably won't be as substantial as to remove the turning lane permanently.
Edit: Oh Coolstar got to it before me, but I didn't see it in the quote as I thought it was only talking about the service changes.
Over the next several weeks, crews will be installing a raised pedestrian walkway in the centre median from the northbound Major Mackenzie vivastation platform to the south crosswalk on Yonge Street, at Major Mackenzie Drive. These enhancements will give pedestrians another direct option to get to and from the Major Mackenzie vivastation or their destination. Please see below for more details.
work dates*: Tuesday, August 31, for approximately five weeks
work hours*: 7am–5pm
As I predicted this in this post, but probably won't be as substantial as to remove the turning lane permanently.
Edit: Oh Coolstar got to it before me, but I didn't see it in the quote as I thought it was only talking about the service changes.
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ARG1
Senior Member
I'd like to see proper action rather than just words. Unfortunately the service upgrades that were announced alongside this image are weak to say the least. The most we got to getting closer to a 15 min non Viva service is the 16th Avenue bus now seeing 24min service instead of 30 which... isn't great.
At least Viva Yellow will now have 15 min service which is... ok - great we now have 3 routes with 15 minute service, we need more though.
As a side note, if anyone here lives in York Region, please do the survey, and try to push for some more 15 minute services to happen soon, ideally Major Mackenzie and Jane. Let's have at least one non-viva route in 2022.
allengeorge
Senior Member
I hate to be “that guy”, but York Region’s claim to fame is being composed of enough swing ridings that they can extract capital dollars from various levels of government for shiny infrastructure, push service requirements onto other operators (TTC, GO) who are forced to run into the region, while refusing to run good service themselves. It’s brilliantly diabolical.