Posts Tagged ‘transit’
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Extending from Downsview Station in Toronto to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre at Highway 7 in Vaughan, the Spadina subway extension will cover a total of 8.6 kilometres and include six new stations.
To date, three separate public open houses have been held to share the preliminary station design concepts with the community: Sheppard West Station on November 17, 2009, York University Station on December 3, 2009, and the Steeles West Station on February 3, 2010.
If you happened to miss the February public open house, you now have another opportunity to check out the preliminary design concept for the Steeles West Station, and be among the first to review the preliminary design concepts for the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and the Highway 407 Stations. All three will be on display together at a public open house on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.
The preliminary design concept for the remaining new station – Finch West Station – will be presented to the public later this spring. Also, more open houses will be held later this year to share more detailed architectural concepts for all six stations so stay tuned.
Public Open House for Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, Highway 407 and Steeles West Subway Stations
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: The Hilton Garden Inn, Toscana Centre
3201 Highway 7, Vaughan, ON
Tags: city planning, connections, Downsview Station, Finch West Station, GTA, Highway 407 Station, public open house, Sheppard West Station, Spadina extension, Steeles West Station, subway, subway extension, Toronto, transit, TTC, Urban Planning, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, vivaNext, York Region, York University Station
Posted in Announcements, Stations, Subways | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Richmond Hill Main Street
As Richmond Hill’s 162,704 residents already know, they live in a great city. This was recently confirmed in an independent 120-page report, entitled City Magnets, released by the Conference Board of Canada.
The report, which analyzed what attracts skilled workers and mobile populations to Canadian cities, ranked 41 different societal indicators including health, economy, environment, education, innovation and housing.
Richmond Hill was statistically identified as a great place to live, work and play because of its solid economic performance, diverse and well-educated workforce, low crime rates and attractive quality of life.
When completed, vivaNext – York Region’s plan for the next generation of rapid transit – will make Richmond Hill an even better place to live. In addition to making it faster and easier to travel to, from and within the Region, vivaNext will inspire urban transformation as new residents come to live, work, shop and play in close proximity to great transit service.
In total, only six Canadian cities received a grade ‘A’ in the report. Along with Richmond Hill, they include Ottawa, Waterloo, Calgary, St. John’s and Vancouver.
Richmond Hill, congratulations!
Tags: Canada, City Magnets, Conference Board of Canada, connections, GTA, Live-work-play, Ontario, Richmond Hill, societal indicators, transit, Urban Planning, urban transformation, vivaNext, York Region
Posted in Announcements, General, Live-work-play | No Comments »
Friday, January 29th, 2010
VivaNext is all about putting the rapid into rapid transit. When completed, it will provide you with faster and easier rapid transit connections, so you have more time to enjoy whatever awaits you at your final destination.
On January 18, 2010, YRT\Viva launched an important first step towards improving rapid transit connections in York Region with the introduction of RideNow. RideNow, which utilizes GPS technology to track the location of transit vehicles in real time, enables riders to determine exactly when their YRT\Viva ride will arrive at their stop. This means no more running…waiting…or frustration. Just smooth transit connections.
YRT\Viva riders can access RideNow’s real-time information in any one of three ways:
1) Online – Visit www.yrt.ca, click on RideNow and enter or select a four-digit stop number to view the next arrival times
2) Email – Enter a four-digit bus stop number in the subject line and send to ridenow@york.ca. A response email will be sent back indicating the next arrival times.
3) Phone – Call 1 866 MOVE-YRT and enter a four-digit bus stop number when prompted to hear the next arrival times.
Tags: bus, bus stop, connections, GPS technology, real-time information, RideNow, transit, viva, Viva vehicle, vivaNext, York Region, YRT\Viva
Posted in Announcements, General | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
An aerial view of the Steeles West Station design
In the fall of 2009, preliminary station designs were unveiled at public open houses for two of the six stations that will be located along vivaNext’s 8.6 kilometre Spadina subway extension, which will extend from Downsview Station in Toronto to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station in Vaughan.
Next week, on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, the preliminary design for a third station – Steeles West – will also be unveiled at a public open house and you are invited to attend.
As previously mentioned on this blog, all of the six stations that will be built along the Spadina subway extension will have a unique design. The most striking features of the Steeles West station preliminary design are its very distinctive and futuristic profile, and its central light cone, which allows daylight to reach all the way down to the platform levels. It’s truly something you have to see for yourself to appreciate.
Following this public open house, a second one featuring more detailed architectural concepts will take place for the Steeles West station in the spring of 2010. Preliminary designs for the remaining Spadina subway extension stations – Finch West, Highway 407 and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre – will also be unveiled in the coming months.
Steeles West Subway Station Public Open House
Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Black Creek Pioneer Village, Garfield Weston Room
1000 Murray Ross Parkway, Toronto, ON
Tags: connections, Downsview Station, public open house, Spadina extension, Steeles West, subway, subway extension, Toronto, transit, TTC, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station, vivaNext, York Region
Posted in Announcements, Stations, Subways | No Comments »
Monday, August 24th, 2009
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.
Related articles:
The New York Times
Mother Nature Network
Tags: Bogota, BRT, Bus Rapid Transit, carbon credit, city planning, Colombia, congestion, Kyoto Protocol, rapid transit, Rapidway, transit, transit-only lanes, Transmilenio, United Nations, Urban Planning, viva, vivaNext, York Region
Posted in Going Green, Rapidways, Urban Planning | No Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
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 –
See what kids can do to keep our air clean
Tips from the Ministry of the Environment
Tags: congestion, environmentally friendly, GTA, humidity, Ministry of the Environment, Ontario, pollution, rapid transit, smog, smog adivsory, spare our air, transit, viva, vivaNext, York Region
Posted in Going Green | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
In the past few weeks, about a thousand people visited vivaNext.com to enter our Next Best Thing To Summer Contest, which ended this past Friday, July 31, 2009. Entrants had a lot of fun using our interactive story to show us why summer’s the best and what their picture perfect summer looks like. On the other hand, we had a lot of fun telling them how vivaNext is the next best thing to summer because it will make it faster and easier for them to get to their favourite summer activities.
Each day during the contest period, one lucky entrant was randomly selected in our daily prize draw to win cool summer gear like water bottles, Canada’s Wonderland® passes, movie tickets, laptop bags and YRT\Viva two-zone passes. In all, 26 daily prizes were awarded.
Then this past Friday, the last day of our contest, we selected the final daily winner. We are now just getting ready to select the lucky winner of our Grand Prize – a handy iPod touch®. With this new iPod touch®, our Grand Prize winner will easily be able to get up-to-date vivaNext construction and project information wirelessly.
Thanks to everyone who entered our Next Best Thing To Summer Contest and made it such a success. Please be sure to visit vivaNext.com often for project updates and to see who won the Grand Prize.
Tags: Canada's Wonderland, iPod touch, movie tickets, Rapidway, Summer Contest, transit, transit-only lanes, Urban Planning, viva, vivaNext, York Region
Posted in Community Events, Ways to win, vivaNext.com | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 24th, 2009
One possible location for the bike racks is on the platforms, as you can see in this 3D model.
As part of the vivaNext plan, beautiful new vivastations will be built in the centre of the roadway along the rapidways on Davis Drive, Yonge Street and Highway 7, as well as the proposed LRT lines on Don Mills Road/Leslie Street and Jane Street in York Region. From the top down, these vivastations have been designed around you. Among their many features and benefits, they will include bicycle racks for quick and easy transit connections.
Right now, we’re examining where to place these bicycle racks and would like to hear your thoughts. There are basically three options to consider.
Option 1 - Place them right on the platforms. This would allow you to conveniently lock your bicycle up right at your point of departure and simply board the next Viva vehicle. On your return Viva trip, you’ll arrive at the same station, but on a different platform. To get your bicycle, all you’d have to do is go back to the original departure platform.
Option 2 - Place the bicycle racks on the sidewalks at the intersections adjacent to the vivastations. This option would make it more convenient for you to shop, run errands and meet up with friends after your return Viva trip before picking-up your bicycle.
Option 3 - Distribute the bicycle racks evenly on both the platforms and the sidewalks.
So which option do you prefer? Please take a moment to let us know because here at vivaNext, we value your opinion – even when it comes to bicycle racks!
Tags: bicycle, bike rack, BRT, Bus Rapid Transit, connections, Davis Dr., Highway 7, LRT, Markham, Newmarket, Ontario, rapid transit, Rapidway, Richmond Hill, transit, transit-only lanes, Urban Planning, Vaughan, viva, vivaNext, vivastation, Yonge St., York Region
Posted in Rapidways, Stations | 8 Comments »
