cplchanb
Senior Member
well...i guess on a more positive note, they protected themselves for probably the next 60 years....
The Davis Drive rapidway has failed.
Frequency will be scaled back to 23 minutes in the evening. Service will end sometime around 10:30pm
Not surprised at all actually. This route is like a stub. It doesn't really go anywhere. Should have been an extension of the Viva Blue.
That's a good reference. However, the Viva to Subway connection will have elevators and stairs rather than just stairsIt reminds me of the set-up of the streetcar bays at Yonge & Bloor, prior to the opening of the #2 line. Well, from pictures at least.
The Davis Drive rapidway has failed.
Frequency will be scaled back to 23 minutes in the evening. Service will end sometime around 10:30pm
Not surprised at all actually. This route is like a stub. It doesn't really go anywhere. Should have been an extension of the Viva Blue.
There may be transit lines out there designed to achieve success or fail within their first year, I don't think the YR rapidways, which both run through and connect planned urban growth centres, necessarily fall into that category.
Is it too early to declare the rapidway on Highway 7 to be a failure? They haven't opened it to buses yet, and the subway and most of the development isn't there yet...but you can't deny the low ridership, day after day!
Highway 7 east is already open for a few years. However, Hwy 7 West has not opened yet. All the stations seem to be completed with the exception of VMC Station. Not sure why they can't open the completed section for now.There may be transit lines out there designed to achieve success or fail within their first year, I don't think the YR rapidways, which both run through and connect planned urban growth centres, necessarily fall into that category.
Is it too early to declare the rapidway on Highway 7 to be a failure? They haven't opened it to buses yet, and the subway and most of the development isn't there yet...but you can't deny the low ridership, day after day!
Highway 7 east is already open for a few years. However, Hwy 7 West has not opened yet. All the stations seem to be completed with the exception of VMC Station. Not sure why they can't open the completed section for now.
Part of the problem with the Davis Drive rapidway is that it is used by one of the numerous routes that travel along Davis Drive. There needs to be some overlapping YRT local service due to the long stop spacing, but at the very least GO Transit should be allowed to use the rapidway. It would also be nice to see YRT Route 50 (formerly GO 69 Sutton) get upgraded to a regional or quasi-BRT service, in order to make use of the Davis Drive rapidway as well as the new Highway 404 extension, both of which fall exactly along its route.
Because they don't have any route to run on it. Currently Viva service turns south at Interchange Way to head down to York University, and doesn't return to Highway 7 until Keele. Therefore the new busway between Interchange Way and Keele is not particularly useful until the subway opens, allowing Viva service to continue straight along Highway 7. It's not VivaNext's fault, the subway should have been open by now.
Viva/YRT really has to open the Rapidways to more that just Viva Routes and emergency services. YRT and GO buses should be able to use them too.
Why is Route 1 - Highway 7 not scheduled to use the section of rapidway between Bayview and Hwy 400? With the new Viva stop opening at Chalmers Road, the only Route 1 stops skipped by the rapidway are Saddle Creek and Pond Drive.
Pond Drive does not even exist in the westbound direction, so it clearly is not very important. Rerouting to the Rapidway would obviously improve speed and reliability for Route 1, but there are other benefits as well. Consolidating all transit service onto the Rapidway would improve the effective frequency of service along the corridor. While Viva routes are faster than Route 1, the difference is not great enough that Viva is always the fastest route for trips along the corridor, especially off-peak when Viva service is less frequent. With separate stops, riders must decide in advance whether they would like to take YRT or Viva, rather than taking the first one that comes. Alternatively, if they are waiting at the median stop and a Route 1 bus arrives, they may attempt to cross the street against the light in order to get to the curbside stop. I question retaining service to the Saddle Creek stop really worth the inconvenience and potential danger to other riders in the corridor.
For YRT local routes are there to serve the connecting stops that viva cannot – viva is the rapid service with stops spaced further apart, while YRT serves neighbourhoods and also feeds the rapid transit system. We will be launching a public education campaign when we approach the service date for the rapidways informing riders on how best to choose between viva and YRT. In general, your final destination should dictate your choice – e.g. travelling along Highway 7, if your final destination is Kennedy, choose viva; if Village Parkway is your final destination, choose YRT Route 1. With viva running in the rapidways, it will be more efficient and reliable, and hence easier to predict when the next bus will arrive. This should also help facilitate the choice.
We can’t make exceptions to this as you suggest for Saddlecreek and Pond, as it would impact system wide operations. Both of these stops will be back in service when we open the rapidway from Bayview to Hwy 404. Hence, YRT will continue to service curbside stops, and viva will use the rapidways. As ridership movements may change after opening over time, YRT/Viva will continue to monitor operations and may make other YRT route adjustments if needed.
They could launch the Viva Orange's rerouted route partially and keep a branch of the current route.
I'm not sure what your point is--Highway 7 West has not opened yet, Davis has been open to buses for quite a while now.
Making the line an extension of Blue would be less efficient than keeping it separate. Can you imagine how irregular the headways would be after a bus has been driving in traffic for an hour? By keeping Yellow as it's own little spur, it is much easier to keep the service running correctly.
Eventually Viva Blue will run mostly in its own dedicated lane and have transit priority signals, just like on highway 7. At that time, would it then make sense to merge the Blue and Yellow, or would it still be too difficult to maintain consistent headways and reliable service?
Are you saying that York Region builds transit in the unnecessary places, but doesn't fund for transit where it matters?The Davis Drive Transitway was a waste of valuable capital funds. York Region is great for building transit infrastructure, but notorious for refusing to pay for the transit to actually serve it. It looks great on them as they get a subway extension opening at the end of this year, and as they lobby for another subway extension.
Brampton adds service every year, and get the best transit ridership increases in the GTA. And without the fancy median busways, too.