An artist rendering of what an intersection at the new Vaughan Metropolitan Centre may look like in the future. It is complete with subway and rapidway stops, high-rise condos, offices, shops and restaurants.
The City of Vaughan’s downtown core will undergo a transformation over the next several years. Encompassing 125-acres, development plans include office and residential towers, shopping and entertainment complexes, plenty of green spaces and pedestrian walkways, and, of course, vivaNext rapid transit connections.
In recognition of all the exciting changes to come, Vaughan City Council determined that a change of name – from Vaughan Corporate Centre – was in order to better reflect the true vision and future of this key hub.
This summer, the City held a contest where people were encouraged to submit their suggestions. Almost 1,600 entries were received, including Central Vaughan, Vaughan Gateway, Vaughan Mosaic Centre and Vaughan Nexus.
In the end, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre was chosen as the winning entry by the City subcommittee that reviewed all the submissions, which consisted of business stakeholders and citizens.
“People wanted something that’s easy enough to remember and still reflected what we want to see from the downtown,” said Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, who chaired the City subcommittee.
To view a video of the future transformation of Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, please click here or visit vivaNext.com.
For example, construction on Downtown Markham is well underway and features the first transit-pedestrian mall in the GTA with businesses, residences, shops, restaurants, theatres and a 10-acre world-class park for people to enjoy without having to drive to get here.
Viva riders travelling along Highway 7 will be able to make seamless and convenient connections in Markham with GO Transit commuter rail and express buses, YRT local bus services, and the future 407 transitway. Bicycle racks will also be available at vivastations and on Viva vehicles for those who choose to cycle.
To view artist renderings of the vivaNext vision for Downtown Markham, click here or visit the Media Centre at vivaNext.com.
Have you visited a transit-pedestrian mall in another country? Tell us about your experience.
Many communities around the world are making an attempt at combating urban sprawl. An excellent example is in a town near San Francisco, California. They are preventing urban sprawl and revitalizing a formerly industrial waterfront by creating a pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented city.
What separates Hercules from other cities is that they are reclaiming land that was previously used for other functions instead of building on unused land that is “green”.
The town is also taking transit-oriented development to another level with a transit hub that will include a ferry terminal, an Amtrak rail station and buses destined for surrounding communities. Next to the terminal will be homes, offices, restaurants, retail stores and public space. Having everything close by encourages residents to walk instead of using the car, shop locally and meet their neighbours.
Having transit options, especially going to San Francisco, is a step in reducing traffic on some of the continents most congested roads.
Reducing congestion and commute times are ideas the vivaNext project will also bring to York Region.
What do you think about Hercules and the new urbanism in this suburban town?<-->
Part of the total transit system in Portland, Ore.
While we enjoy talking about our projects, it’s also important to highlight some of the other positive transit initiatives that are going on around the world. Before we first launched Viva, we looked to other cities to see what lessons we could learn. One city that provided inspiration was Portland, Oregon.
Fred Hansen, Portland transportation manager, was recently featured on The Agenda with Steve Paikin talking about the “total transit system”. He said it’s not only about reducing travel time, but it’s about being able to properly plan your trip by knowing exactly when a transit vehicle will arrive. Portland uses light rail, commuter trains, streetcars and buses to move people.
They also have something called “frequent service”, meaning no matter what day or time, a vehicle will be there within 15 minutes on a frequent service route. Hansen said that when people can count on a vehicle arriving, they have seen triple-digit increases in ridership. Portland uses GPS so riders can go online or call to find out exactly what time a vehicle will arrive.
But Hansen said what they really want to do is create neighbourhoods – that it’s all about livability. A residential community is not just a place where people sleep or have a meal, but it should also be a place where people can get a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. The downtown core shouldn’t just be a place where people work. It should also have services and places for people to live. Transit has to reflect the community and be a part of the streetscape.
While the program focused on how Toronto can learn lessons from Portland, I would like to highlight the initiative of Portland and say that we hope to bring all these ideas to York Region and more. In fact, many of the ideas were initiated with phase one of Viva including using GPS so riders can know the exact arrival time. VivaNext will continue to build on leading industry standards that ultimately improves quality of life.
The ideas Hansen talks about are the same ideas we talk about around the office every day. We are using transit to lay the ground work for communities where people don’t just live, but also work and play. That is the end goal, transit is the medium.
What do you think of what Portland is doing? What other good ideas do you think we can copy from other places in the world?
I encourage you to watch the full conversation between Fred and Steve. It is followed by a panel discussion about how to share the road.
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?
Many cities around the world are experimenting with ways to make their communities more livable. Here is an interesting example from Vauban, Germany, where cars are practically forbidden. And yes, the name is spelt strangely similar to Vaughan.
The community is built on the site of a former military base as a mixed-use development where transit and cycling are the preferred methods of commuting. In fact, all the cars are parked in a parking lot on the outskirts of town. Seventy per cent of people chose to give up their cars and 57% of people sold their cars when moving to Vauban. It is a community of 5,500 people that live in a rectangular square mile. The rectangle shape makes it ideal for running a light rail through the city that is close for everyone to walk to.
According to the article in the New York Times, it is an attempt to separate suburban life from auto use. Something called “smart planning”. Not only is this idea good for the environment, but people that live in the community say they are less tense and happier.
This is one of the more bold experiments I’ve seen, but the question is whether it can work in North America. A similar experiment called Quarry Village is set to begin on the outskirts of Oakland, California. They promote it as a more enjoyable place to live that is close to the Bay and California State University. To date, over 100 families have showed their interest in the community out of the 1,000 planned homes.
While we are not aware of any experiments this bold in Canada, I firmly believe that they have the right idea promoting mixed-use development. York Region residents won’t be moving into car-free communities where their cars are kept on the outskirts of town any time soon, but we are on the right track using transit to lay the groundwork for mixed-use developments so people can rely less on their vehicles to get around.
Could you give up your car if you lived in a community like Vauban? Does the idea appeal to you?
An artist rendering of what the live-work-play community at Markham Centre will look like when complete. Rendering courtesy of the Remington Group.Construction at Enterprise, which will be within walking distance of the above rendering of Markham Centre.
Are you tired of sitting in congested traffic trying to get to work or to visit with friends and family?
I don’t like to think that we are simply designing and building a rapid transit system. We are helping to create live-work-play communities. That’s the basic term for living in a place where everything is nearby. The goal is to create more time in your life and reduce reliance on a vehicle to get around.
Other names for this concept are a mixed-use development or new urbanism. The idea is the same: it is about making communities that let you live within walking distance of work, shopping, restaurants, cinemas, parks and other activities. And when you do have to travel, there are transit options nearby such as subways, rapidways and GO trains.
Unlike many parts of Europe where it’s the norm, it will no doubt require a mind-shift from many Ontarians. But I can tell you that it’s already starting with the youth. They get it from a logical, environmental and social standpoint. I get the sense that they place greater importance on quality of life and that excludes sitting in a vehicle for hours every day.
This shift has also started in our local communities – Markham, Mississauga and Richmond Hill for example.
What examples have you seen? What are your kids saying about it?
York Region and Toronto planners discuss how to best manage growth over the next few decades.
We recently had the opportunity to co-sponsor the Regional Forum on Centres and Corridors. The consistent message from speakers and the audience was that investment in public transit should be the first priority in making centres and corridors thrive. They also said designing and building town centres linked by fast, convenient public transit helps to shift people out of their cars.
Speakers from York Region and the City of Toronto along with renowned urban planners and architects spoke about managing growth in York Region over the next 20 years. They examined lessons learned from the past to help improve growth management strategies in the future.
To help manage growth, the Region has a plan to focus development around four “downtowns” away from valuable farmland and environmentally important greenbelts. These centres (in Markham, Newmarket, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill) include residential, business and recreational development connected by transit.
The new centres are being developed as live-work-play communities. We will be posting a blog in the near future that talks more about this idea.
To learn more about the Centres, Corridors + Subways program, please visit their website
