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 key part of York Region’s vivaNext plan is the Spadina subway extension. Extending from Downsview Station in Toronto to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station in Vaughan, it will cover a total of 8.6 kilometres and include six stations.
This Tuesday, November 17, 2009, you are invited to attend a Public Open House to view the preliminary design concept for one of these stations – Sheppard West Station. It is the first of two public open houses for Sheppard West Station. The second one, scheduled for Spring 2010, will show detailed architectural concepts.
Sheppard West Subway Station Public Open House Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Location: The Crystal Room (2nd Floor) Montecassino Hotel & Event Venue
3710 Chesswood Drive, Toronto
Wondering when and where we’ll start to break ground on the vivaNext rapidways? Or how they are already affecting urban transformation in such key destinations as downtown Markham?
In our fall e-newsletter, which has just been posted on our website at vivanext.com, you can find quick and easy answers to these vivaNext-related questions, and many more.
For example, you can learn what people just like you have to say about commuting to and from work in York Region, and whether or not they think our rapid transit projects will make things better or worse.
Perhaps you’re especially looking forward to the proposed Yonge subway extension? If so, then you’ll enjoy our look back to where it all began more than fifty years ago.
We even reveal the lucky Grand Prize winner in our ‘Next Best Thing To Summer’ contest. It’s all there, along with a handy sign-up form so you can conveniently receive future issues of our e-newsletter in your Inbox, along with customized email updates about vivaNext projects of particular interest to you.
Once you’ve had a chance to read our latest e-newsletter, we encourage you to submit topic suggestions for future issues right here on our blog.
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
Take a peek at our short video and see for yourself what a hit they were with passing motorists and pedestrians alike.
BTW, this is the last day of our contest. If you haven’t entered yet, there’s still time to do so by texting* the word “vivaNext” to the number 101010. Good luck!
A woman entering our contest at Markville Mall over Thanksgiving long weekend.
This is the last week of our vivaNext ‘text to win’ contest, which began October 9, 2009 and ends this Friday, October 30, 2009. So far, 17 lucky people have won great daily prizes. Plus, along with all other contestants, they still have a chance to win the Grand Prize – the new iPod nano.*
For a complete list of the prizes we are awarding, please visit our website. While on our website, you will also find out all of the latest project information, including rapidways and subway extensions up to Highway 7.
Remember…you can enter once every day during the contest period. The more days you enter, the more chances you have to win. To enter, simply text** the word “vivaNext” to the number 101010. Good luck!
* “iPod nano” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Inc. is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.
Two members of our segway team texting to win at Markville Mall. When you see them near Vaughan Mills Mall this weekend ask how you could win the new iPod nano®*.
Over the past two weekends, our vivaNext ‘segway’ team made appearances outside of Markville Mall and the Markham Home Show. Even in the pouring rain, they were a tremendous hit, attracting a lot of attention from Markham area residents. This, in turn, allowed us to drive awareness of vivaNext projects and communicate how to enter our new contest for a chance to win the new iPod nano®*. It’s so easy you could do it right now. All you have to do is text the word vivaNext to the number 101010.**
Now our vivaNext ‘segway’ team is preparing for their next appearance outside of Vaughan Mills this coming weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, they will be out in force to talk with Vaughan area residents about vivaNext projects in their area including the Spadina subway extension and the Highway 7 rapidway, which will both extend to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. As well, our vivaNext team will have a booth set up inside the mall from Friday through until Sunday, to ensure that we are able to talk to as many people as possible about our projects.
We hope to see you there!
Outside mall segway hours:
Saturday, October 24 noon – 4pm
Sunday, October 25 noon – 4pm
Inside mall booth hours:
Friday, October 23 10am – 9pm
Saturday, October 24 10am – 9pm
Sunday, October 25 11am – 7pm
* “iPod nano” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Inc. is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.
Across York Region, all kinds of large and small businesses are taking the time to show that they are 100% behind vivaNext projects by sending letters of support.
They recognize that traffic congestion and the lack of convenient transit alternatives have directly impacted their business through lost employee productivity and absenteeism, and that revitalization is needed along some key corridors.
Over the next 20 years, York Region’s population is expected to increase by 50% and the number of jobs by 100%. To help manage this growth and businesses succeed in the future, a faster and more convenient rapid transit system is essential – vivaNext.
To see a list of those businesses that have already sent letters of support and had their names added to our wall of support, visit vivaNext.com/wall_of_support.
If your business would like to write a letter of support for vivaNext projects and be added to our wall of support, please send a message to contactus@vivanext.com.
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.
Team vivaNext members attracted a lot of attention riding around on segways outside Markville Mall this past Thanksgiving weekend. They were there to talk to people about vivaNext projects and show them how they could WIN the new iPod nano®* in our new contest by texting the word Viva to the number 101010.** We also had a booth inside the mall to make sure we were able to talk to as many people as possible. Take a look at the crowds that gathered around the segways and our booth, and what they had to say about the vivaNext rapidways and subway extensions.
* “iPod nano” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Inc. is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.
Two members of our segway team texting to win at Markville Mall. When you see them near Vaughan Mills Mall this weekend ask how you could win the new iPod nano®*.
