Attendees listen intently at a past public information meeting.
VivaNext rapidways are going to make a huge difference to people travelling around Newmarket. With their own dedicated rapid transit lanes, special transit-priority traffic signals at intersections and welcoming vivastations with many special features, Viva will soon get people around Newmarket faster and more comfortably than ever before.
We’re excited to be moving forward on the vivaNext rapidway that’s planned for Davis Drive, with some pre-construction activities already in motion. And now we’re moving forward with our second Newmarket rapidway, which will run north-south along the busy stretch of Yonge Street from Mulock to Davis Drive.
On February 22, we’re hosting a special public information meeting to introduce this rapidway segment. We’re going to have our whole team on hand, ready to answer all your questions about where Viva will stop along the rapidways, the design for stations and platforms, and how the special traffic features will make it easier and safer for drivers along Yonge Street. We’ll also be joined by our friends from the Town of Newmarket, who will talk about the long-term vision for this community as it continues to grow and expand, and how our leading-edge rapidways are part of that future plan.
We’re hoping that everyone who is interested in vivaNext rapidways and the Newmarket of the future will join us for an informative, inspiring evening.
When
Monday, February 22
Open House 6 to 8 p.m.
Presentation 7 p.m.
You don’t have to be into winter sports to get out and have fun with family and friends in the middle of winter. This coming weekend, February 6 and 7, Winterfests are taking place throughout York Region featuring all kinds of fun-filled activities including pancake breakfasts, dog sled rides, horse drawn wagon rides, snow bowling, live entertainers, and of course, amusing games like our vivaNext ball toss.
We don’t want to reveal too much, but you could receive an exciting prize after you have a ball learning what’s en route with vivaNext – from the rapidways and subway extensions to great shopping and comfort zones.
For your chance to play and learn more about vivaNext, simply look for our vivaNext team and booth outdoors on Saturday at the Newmarket Winterfest and outdoors at the Vaughan Winterfest on Sunday. We look forward to seeing you there!
Around this time, our new website was also launched along with this blog and other social media initiatives to help keep you informed of all the latest vivaNext developments.
By the fall, preliminary rapidway construction activities were underway in Newmarket and Markham, and a contract for conceptual design work regarding the Yonge subway extension was awarded. In addition, preliminary station designs were also unveiled for several of the Spadina subway extension stations at a series of public open houses, and the project took an important step forward with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Wilson Subway Yard.
Then, just before the holiday season, a ceremony was held on the site of the planned rapidway alongside Enterprise Drive in Markham (which is part of the Highway 7 rapidway project) to commemorate the start of construction of the first 37 km of rapidways.
From every side of York Region, this past year has been filled with milestones for the vivaNext projects. We look forward to bringing you many more in 2010.
If you’re like most York Region residents, your holiday shopping list is long and involves trips to multiple retail locations.
Leaving your car at home and taking transit instead is the best way to avoid traffic jams and parking problems. It’s also a lot less expensive since you don’t have to pay for things like gas, valets, tickets, and even towing.
With a YRT\Viva ticket, you can travel on any YRT or Viva vehicle in any direction for a two-hour period with just one fare. How convenient and inexpensive is that?! Simply remember to hang onto your ticket or transfer as proof-of-payment so you can hop on and hop off vehicles.
As great as transit already is for holiday shopping, it will get even better with vivaNext. The subway extensions, rapidways, and proposed light rail transit lines will make it even faster and easier to get around York Region’s busiest corridors and beyond.
In fact, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a certain somebody in a red and white suit using our transit system to do his holiday shopping in future!
Our goal is to ensure that you can quickly and easily find answers to all your vivaNext questions on our comprehensive and constantly updated website. However, we also recognize that there may be times when you need to speak directly to someone about a specific related matter.
That’s why we have a vivaNext Community Liaison, Andrea Witty. Whether you’re a property owner, business operator, tenant, or any other community member directly affected by vivaNext construction, Andrea is readily available to assist you with any question regarding rapidway planning and construction.
Here’s how to reach her:
Andrea Witty Community Liaison Telephone: 905-886-6767 Ext. 1022
1-877-464-9675 Cellphone: 416-554-1890 Email:andrea.witty@york.ca
Throughout vivaNext construction, you will also find Andrea out in the community providing York Region residents and businesses with ongoing project information.
Look for YRT\Viva staff walking near this bus at York Region holiday parades to donate mittens, hats and gloves for those in need.
Planning to attend one of York Region’s many holiday parades over the next few weeks? If so, you can help our operating partner, YRT\Viva, spread winter warmth to those in need by bringing new mittens, hats and gloves to be donated to charitable organizations in York Region.
YRT and Viva, York Region’s two great transit services, work together as one amazing system to provide seamless connections across all nine municipalities, and easy access to other transit systems operating in neighbouring regions including Toronto, Durham and Peel.
VivaNext, York Region’s plan for the next generation of Viva rapid transit service, will truly put the rapid into rapid transit and make it even faster and easier for you to travel to, from and within York Region.
Whichever holiday parade you go to, just look for YRT\Viva staff accepting donations from the crowds while proudly walking and waving alongside the beautifully decorated blue Viva vehicle – at 40-feet long, it’s hard to miss!
The holiday season kicks off this Sunday in York Region with the first of five Santa Claus parades to take place during the month of November.
To help the big guy in the red and white suit greet all of the thousands of people who will line the various parade routes to see him, vivaNext helpers have been invited to join him. They’ll be walking in front of our beautiful blue Viva vehicle specially decorated for the parades and impossible to miss.
Each helper will be wearing a 4-sided cube costume measuring 24” wide by 30” high that showcases the vivaNext changes coming to York Region. As they walk along and wave to the crowds, their cubes will rotate in formation to reveal four unique and colourful streetscapes in Newmarket, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham – each one representing the urban transformation that vivaNext rapid transit projects will help to create.
We hope they will be as much fun for you to watch, as they will be for our parade marshal to coordinate. We look forward to seeing you en route!
Parade Schedule:
November 8 - Vaughan - starts at 2:00pm
click here for a parade route map
November 15 - Richmond Hill - starts at 1:30pm
click here for a parade route map
November 21 - Newmarket - starts at 11:00am
click here for a parade route map
November 28 - Markham - starts at 11:00am
click here for a parade route map
November 28 - Aurora - starts at 6:00pm
click here for a route map
In addition to driving awareness of vivaNext projects, they’ll be getting the word out about our new contest where you could WIN the new iPod nano®* simply by texting the word Viva to the number 101010.**
Our vivaNext team will also have a booth inside the Show, where they’ll be showcasing time-lapse animations of vivaNext projects. It’s a great opportunity to see what York Region could look like in the future.
Show hours:
Friday, October 16 1 – 9pm
Saturday, October 17 10am – 7pm
Sunday, October 18 10am – 5pm
For more information, please click here.
If you would like to see a map and get directions, please click here.
VivaNext team members will also have a booth inside at Upper Canada Mall this weekend, where they’ll be talking to people about vivaNext projects and showing them how they could WIN the new iPod nano®* when they text the word Viva to the number 101010.**.
Mall hours:
Friday, October 16 9:30am – 9pm
Sunday, October 18 11am – 5pm
We hope to see you in one or both of these places this weekend!
* “iPod nano” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Inc. is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.
So far, over 4,000 people have signed-up to receive our regular vivaNext email updates. Perhaps you’re one of them. Recently, we made it possible for you to customize the updates you receive.
You can now choose to receive email updates for a specific vivaNext project – or all of them if you want.
Click on this button in the top right of our website and watch the video.
For the past few months, we’ve been showing futuristic computer renderings of key growth centres within York Region and what they could look like years down the road with the rapidways. These renderings are really just a small part of a longer video that we have been working on that includes time-lapse animation segments showing the transformation of Newmarket, Markham Centre and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.
You can now watch the full version on our website or scroll down to the bottom of this post. When you are on the website, just click on the icon at the top-right of every page that says “the future of viva”.
The video follows one girl’s journey as she grows up taking transit around York Region and witnesses these three key areas transform. As rapidways are built along Davis Drive, the streetscape is revitalized, a pedestrian mall with mixed-use development is built at Markham Centre, and high-rise condos and offices are built at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. The video ends with the girl, now in her 20s, walking to a subway station at Richmond Hill Centre.
These changes won’t happen overnight, but if you wonder how our community could evolve with these transit improvements and development planning, you have to take a look at this video. The transformation is quite remarkable!
What do you think of the time-lapse animation segments? Can you picture yourself walking down the Markham Centre pedestrian mall or hopping on a subway at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre? Let me know your thoughts on the future of York Region.
Our goal is to ensure that you can quickly and easily find answers to all your vivaNext questions on our comprehensive and constantly updated 
