The vivaNext rapidways being built across York Region are good news for the environment. More people taking transit means less pollution. One Viva vehicle can replace up to 70 cars on the road – that represents a huge reduction in carbon emissions. With fewer cars on the road, gridlock, fuel use and air pollution caused by idling cars are all reduced.
There is also a direct connection between how our communities are developed, and the impact we have on our environment. Sprawling communities mean that people tend to travel farther between work, home and play. The more spread out a community is, the harder it is to provide efficient public transit. So, people become increasingly dependent on cars, and the developments that get built are more likely to be car-oriented. The more that happens, the less convenient it is for people to take transit. Eventually, entire communities become dependent on cars, and are less likely to use transit, cycle or walk to get around. More cars mean more gridlock, more pollution and more carbon emissions.
On the other hand, communities that are developed around great transit are more likely to include compact, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods. Mixed-use developments and shorter distances between work-live-play destinations make it easier to get around and make transit a more appealing and convenient choice for a greater number of people.
The result: more people out and about, enjoying their energetic and dynamic local neighbourhood, and walking in the fresh air to ride in a comfortable, low-emission Viva vehicle.
And for people who continue to drive, their trips will be shorter due to the compact, mixed-use developments that have sprung up around transit – so once again, car usage will be reduced, resulting in less pollution and fuel consumption.
All of this is good news for the environment, for our health, and for our lifestyle.
Did you know that Earth Day is the biggest and most celebrated environmental event in the world?
On Thursday, April 22, vivaNext staffers were among the one billion people in 170 countries who took part in this global event to tackle local environmental challenges. We donned our bright Viva blue shirts and raced the clock – and each other – to see who could pick up the most trash along one stretch of the future Highway 7 rapidway in York Region.
Who won? Well, everyone wins when we each do our part to clean up the planet!
You may be surprised to learn that organizers of the very first Earth Day celebrations were also supporters of live-work-play communities. Then again, perhaps you see the connection between sustainability and pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented spaces.
We certainly feel a strong connection with the values of Earth Day here at vivaNext HQ; our rapid transit service is a key part of achieving smart growth goals and creating better connected, more livable communities in York Region. On Earth Day, and every day, we are working hard to design and build a rapid transit service that offers a green travel alternative, makes it easier for you to get around, and helps to shape growth in an environmentally sound way.
Check out our video and see how we did. Tell us if you participated in any Earth Day activities or submit your video!
This coming Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m., hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour in support of Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is an annual global event that is held on the last Saturday of each March to raise awareness of climate change, and to encourage each of us to make choices that will lessen our impact on the environment.
This remarkable initiative first began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 with 2.2 million participants taking part. The following year, it had grown to more than 50 million participants in 35 countries and by 2009, hundreds of millions of participants in 88 countries showed their support. Based on this phenomenal growth, there is every reason to believe that Earth Hour 2010 will be the biggest and best yet. Those of us who work in the vivaNext office plan to participate, and hope you will too.
So have you guessed what Earth Hour, vivaNext and your laundry all have in common yet? Just like hanging your clothes to dry, taking rapid transit is one of the little things you can do on a regular basis to lessen your impact on the environment.
You already know that Viva’s great for the environment, with every single Viva vehicle able to replace 70 cars on our region’s crowded roads. And we know you’re excited about the vivaNext rapidways that are coming to York Region, which are going to make it even easier for Viva riders to get around quickly and comfortably.
And if that’s not enough, now YRT\Viva is giving you a great new reason to get out of your car and onto Viva. We are proud to support Canada’s national Retire Your Ride program, which offers $300 for every pre-1995 car that is taken off the road. If you are one of the first 100 local residents to turn in your old car to Retire Your Ride, in addition to the Retire Your Ride payout, York Region will reward you with six months’ Viva\YRT Adult 1-Zone passes, worth $105 each. That’s a total value of $630!
Environment Canada estimates there are 83,000 older cars in York Region that would qualify, which means they are a 1995 or older model, in running condition, registered and properly insured for the previous 6 months.
If you have an older car, or know someone who does, now is a great time to trade it in for cash and a free ride on us.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is one of the world’s largest and most reliable sources of comparable statistical, economic and social data. In a publication launched in November 2009 entitled “OECD Territorial Reviews: Toronto, Canada”, several of the GTA’s transportation challenges are collectively identified as a key policy issue. They include traffic congestion problems (70% of commuters use cars), poorly integrated regional transit services, and relatively underdeveloped public transport infrastructure.
To address this key policy issue, one of the publication’s key recommendations is to “tackle transportation challenges by creating incentives for reducing car use, access to additional revenue sources, [and] longer term funding commitments by federal government for investment”.
Here in York Region, we are doing our part to tackle these transportation challenges with such vivaNext initiatives as the rapidways, subways and proposed LRTs. In addition to making it faster and easier to get in and out of the GTA, they will make it up to 40% faster to travel along our Region’s busiest corridors. We believe that such incentives will significantly reduce car use, lead to economic revitalization, help the environment, and maintain the quality of life our residents have come to enjoy.
Getting in shape is a popular New Year's resolution. Photo courtesy of Jennoit.
Each January, certain New Year’s resolutions consistently make the Top Ten most popular lists. They include:
1. Spending more time with family & friends
2. Getting fit
3. Losing weight
4. Enjoying life more
5. Saving money
6. Helping the environment
7. Reducing stress
8. Helping others
9. Being more punctual
10. Reading more
In future, vivaNextrapid transit projects will make it easy for you to keep all of these New Year’s resolutions. How so? Rapid transit is faster, easier, less expensive and more environmentally friendly than driving. As a result, it can reduce your stress levels, allow you to arrive at your destination on time, and give you more time to work out, do the things you enjoy, be with the people you love, and of course, help you save money and the environment.
We think that’s a lot of added value for the cost of a YRT\Viva fare. Speaking of which, did you know that YRT\Viva fares will remain unchanged throughout 2010?!
Tell us about your New Year’s resolutions. Did they include any of the above Top Ten?
An artist rendering of the Steeles West subway station.
Each of the six subway stations that will be built along the Spadina subway extension – a key part of the vivaNext plan – will have a unique design.
Above ground, the most striking feature of the Steeles West Station conceptual design is its very distinctive and futuristic profile. It looks like something right out of ‘The Jetsons’. Below ground, a central light cone will bring daylight all the way down to the platform levels – a solution that’s both illuminating and eco-friendly.
The Steeles West subway station will also feature a commuter parking lot with 1,900 parking spaces plus two bus terminals, including one for YRT and Viva.
Planned service frequency from Downsview Station to Steeles West Station is every two minutes, and from Steeles West Station to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station, every five minutes.
A Transmilenio bus travels in a dedicated lane through the streets of Bogotá, Colombia. This system has earned the city up to $300 million through selling carbon credits. Photo courtesy of DianaCats.
Avenida de las Américas, one of Bogotá, Colombia’s major thoroughfares, used to resemble a noisy, tangled, smoke-laden parking lot jam-packed with motorcycles, cars and small, privately operated buses. Then, beginning in 2001, it became part of a 7-line bus rapid transit system in the city known as TransMilenio.
In addition to making it faster and easier for the 1.6 million commuters who use the system each day to reach their destinations, TransMilenio has enabled the city to eliminate 7,000 of the small buses from its thoroughfares. This, in turn, has led to a more than 59% reduction in the use of bus fuel and associated CO2 and other emissions.
In recognition of this remarkable “green” achievement, last year the United Nations granted approval to TransMilenio to generate and sell carbon credits to developed countries that exceed their emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol. According to analysts, this has already generated an estimated $100 million to $300 million in revenue for the city’s coffers.
Closer to home, York Region residents can look forward to a faster, easier and more environmentally friendly alternative to driving along busy routes such as Highway 7 with our vivaNext rapidways, which will allow our beautiful blue Viva vehicles to safely speed past congested traffic.
While warmer weather and patio surfing go hand in hand, unfortunately, so do smog advisories. Smog, which is most prevalent in summer and can affect our health, is produced when heat and sunlight react with air pollutants such as the ones we emit when we burn gasoline to drive our cars.
While we have been largely spared of smog advisories this summer due to cooler temperatures, this past week we have seen some days where the temperature after humidity reached almost 40 degrees sparking advisories. And last summer eight advisories were issued over a 17-day period in and around the GTA. According to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, one of the best ways to reduce smog advisories is to reduce our car use in warmer weather and take transit.
The vivaNext plan will make transit more convenient and up to 40% faster, providing a viable alternative to driving even when there is no smog advisory. With such speed and convenience, why would anyone choose to sit in congested traffic? We’re focused on moving the vivaNext projects forward and starting construction.
In addition to taking transit, here are some other ways you and your family can help spare our air –
A bus in Curitiba stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Notice the dedicated lanes and the station that allows for level boarding at all doors.
Curitiba, Brazil, home to over 3.5 million people in the greater area, has one of the most used and advanced bus rapid transit systems in the world. In fact, about 75% of the city’s commuters use the system for their daily trips to work. That’s a big contrast to the Greater Toronto Area where about 22% take transit according to Statistics Canada.
Like many bus rapid transit systems around the world, Curitiba’s buses are in their own lanes and move unimpeded by congestion and traffic signals as they have signal priority. They have a pre-boarding fare payment system and level boarding that works similarly to a subway, allowing for the fastest boarding possible and; therefore, less time between buses and higher capacity. People pay their fare and enter an elevated tube-shaped station. They say their capacity for a line is 36,000 riders/hour, which is similar to a subway.
Curitiba has not always had a transit vision. In the 1940s, the city had envisioned growth built around the car. But in the 1960s, a ballooning population made the city rethink expansion. A new vision was adopted that put strict controls on urban sprawl, reduced auto traffic in the downtown core and developed a convenient and affordable public transit system. They also changed the idea of a city growing outward from its city centre to development being built along corridors that branch out from the centre.
The system is credited with reducing the number of auto trips per year by 27 million. Curitiba uses 30% less fuel per capita than other cities in Brazil and has one of the lowest rates of ambient air pollution. Their system has been the inspiration for systems in Los Angeles, Bogota and Panama City to name a few.
Our goal is to provide you with the best possible rapid transit system. We can’t be like them weather wise (they have an average winter temperature of 13 degrees), but we can have a rapid transit system built around corridors that is fast and convenient.
What did you think about Curitiba? Can you imagine 75% of people in York Region taking transit for their daily commute?
This coming Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m., hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour in support of 
