We’ve been blogging on all things vivaNext for over a year now, and have never really told you anything about the organizations behind the vivaNext project – who does what, and how we’re structured. So today, let me tell you about all the players in this project, and how we’re connected.
The Highway 7 East rapidway is one of several work programs being done by York Region Rapid Transit Corporation (YRRTC). YRRTC is a wholly owned corporation within The Regional Municipality of York, with the mandate to develop rapid transit across York Region. We planned, designed and constructed the viva service that’s currently in operation. Once it was completed and ready to go into service, it was handed over to York Region Transit, who actually operate it. VivaNext, the Region’s rapid transit plan, is now being implemented along the Davis Drive and Highway 7 East rapidways and the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, with other segments to come over the next few years.
Early on, we decided that the fastest and most cost effective way to build the viva system would be to partner with the private sector. So in 2002, the Region entered into a partnership with York Consortium, which is a consortium made up of several firms, all with significant world-wide experience in rapid transit engineering, design, finance, construction and operations. There have been clear advantages to this arrangement.
First, under this partnership arrangement, York Region controls revenues and retains ownership of all assets, and full policy control over the entire project through regular reports and updates to Regional Council.
We keep our project costs down by using a transparent, open and competitive procurement process. Our agreement gives York Consortium the right of first opportunity to do vivaNext work, by competing in a bid process where we’ve gathered a cost estimate from an independent source. The bottom line is that by working with our private sector partners, we benefit from their technical staffing support, and from their guarantee to deliver on schedule within a guaranteed maximum price.
So far, our partnership with York Consortium has worked well, and provided great value for taxpayers. Viva Phase 1 was delivered within budget and on schedule. In fact, this project has been seen by transit professionals as such a success, that YRRTC has been asked to speak about our project at transit conferences and by other cities around the world.
So we all have cause to feel very good about the quality and professionalism of the work going into this project, and the careful stewardship of the public funds being used to pay for it.
Our rapidways are being built following the same model of competitive procurement and private sector partnerships. To manage the construction project for the Highway 7 East rapidway, we’ve procured the services of a partnership between Peter Kiewit & Sons and EllisDon Corporation (Kiewit-Ellis Don or KED), who are members of York Consortium.
Overall, we are very confident that vivaNext, the public/private partnerships we lead, and the rapid transit systems we build will provide great value and be something we can all be proud of for generations to come as the region continues to grow.