YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

[mdu]

16th NB

Weldrick NB

Elgin SB

Mac N/S

 

[dad pad]

this may have already been posted earlier, but have yrt said what the theoretical time savings are on these new parts of the rapidway?

 

[cplchanb]

this may have already been posted earlier, but have yrt said what the theoretical time savings are on these new parts of the rapidway?

They did say around 30%

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

Exciting news from York Region. I expect @ShonTron and others will be very excited
ALL CAPS!! A NEW PENGUIN!

 

[cplchanb]

Exciting news from York Region. I expect @ShonTron and others will be very excited
ALL CAPS!! A NEW PENGUIN!

Well,, Honestly how can they not support/disagree since this was a legally binding agreement. I guess as a silver lining theres less syllables to remember and this will be a lesson on how to deal with
future cases of naming when selling air rights.

 

[JasonParis]

I wish the subway station could be just VMC as well (obviously without the "Smart").

 

[innsertnamehere]

Went and walked the centre median crossing over highway 7 today. The new roads around VMC have opened which seem to make a big impact on traffic, though they aren’t quite finished yet with sidewalks and bike lanes still being incomplete.

I found the bus lane to help a lot to buffer traffic from the median area, especially since bus frequencies are so low. It felt sketchy enough as it is, if traffic was right beside the barrier it would have felt very unsafe.

the crossing to get to it across the 400 off ramp intersection feels very unsafe, it feels like you shouldn’t be there as you are right in the middle of the road. it improves once you cross and enter the median barrier part but still sort of feels wrong and unsafe, much like i thought it would.

it probably works best as a cycling connection, but the median area where you wait to cross back to the side of the road seems to have no accommodation for cyclists to make that same shift. It’s just a small sidewalk space that could only fit maybe a handful of bikes and pedestrians at once.

interesting to see accessible tactile strips in that median waiting area, I haven’t seen those on sidewalks before this.

 

[Leo_Chan]

Went and walked the centre median crossing over highway 7 today. The new roads around VMC have opened which seem to make a big impact on traffic, though they aren’t quite finished yet with sidewalks and bike lanes still being incomplete.

I found the bus lane to help a lot to buffer traffic from the median area, especially since bus frequencies are so low. It felt sketchy enough as it is, if traffic was right beside the barrier it would have felt very unsafe.

the crossing to get to it across the 400 off ramp intersection feels very unsafe, it feels like you shouldn’t be there as you are right in the middle of the road. it improves once you cross and enter the median barrier part but still sort of feels wrong and unsafe, much like i thought it would.

it probably works best as a cycling connection, but the median area where you wait to cross back to the side of the road seems to have no accommodation for cyclists to make that same shift. It’s just a small sidewalk space that could only fit maybe a handful of bikes and pedestrians at once.

interesting to see accessible tactile strips in that median waiting area, I haven’t seen those on sidewalks before this.



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Traffic will be even better once the Colussus Dr to Interchange Way Highway 400 midblock crossing gets built.

 

[markhamdevelopments]

The Cornell Terminal is slated to open on September 2020 according to the YRT 2020 Transit Initiatives: https://view.publitas.com/york-region-transportation-services/2020-transit-initiatives/page/1

 

[Allandale25]

 

[cplchanb]

this will be quite a momentous moment when they finally finish what is their core plan that they set out to do in 2003. In 17 years they went from a 2 yr old agency with nothing to a pioneering BRT network in the GTA

 

[Haydenpoon]

this will be quite a momentous moment when they finally finish what is their core plan that they set out to do in 2003. In 17 years they went from a 2 yr old agency with nothing to a pioneering BRT network in the GTA

And the buses are so infrequent.

 

[cplchanb]

And the buses are so infrequent.

haters gonna hate.....

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

And the buses are so infrequent.

It ain't perfect but they run more frequently than Toronto's BRT buses or their Transit City LRT vehicles.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

BRT makes no sense without the frequency. YRT has a huge problem with running buses at frequencies that encourage using transit. The other nonsensical thing YRT does is completely ignore running frequent connections to GO Train stations during peak hours. Talk about ignoring low-hanging fruit!

I don't disagree but as I've said before, viewing Viva solely through a short-term ridership/frequency lens is missing the point. It's a city-building effort which is facilitating a fundamental change in the built form of the corridors along which it's built. YR has put itself in a bit of a Catch-22 by cutting local service etc. but it's not a 5-year project. Let's see how Yonge and Highway 7 look in 10 years (they already look very different from 2003) and then look at ridership numbers.