York Region’s transit operator, YRT/Viva, serves a huge region with a combination of conventional transit [the white buses traveling in and out of neighbourhoods], Mobility Plus, and Viva [the blue vehicles!]. The Viva fleet has grown to about 123 vehicles, stopping at over 100 curb-side stations and 15 rapidway vivastations.
With this type of growth, you can appreciate that there’s a need for some vehicle maintenance, storage and staff offices. You can also imagine that with the Viva Network Expansion Plans, set to expand service in York Region, there will be even more of a need to connect passengers with convenient terminals and park and ride lots.
When the Viva system was being planned, we saw the need for these facilities and terminals too, so we made sure our To Do list included an Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility [OMSF] in Richmond Hill, passenger terminals in Markham and Vaughan, and a series of park and ride locations.
The OMSF opened for service in Richmond Hill in July, and we’re proud to say it was built to LEED Silver standards, with energy efficient and environmentally friendly features – a remarkable accomplishment for a 481,679 square-foot facility.
We also opened a park and ride facility at Davis Drive and Highway 404 in Newmarket along with the opening of the Davis Drive rapidway. The next park and ride location is planned in Markham near Warden and Highway 407.
A bus terminal in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre that will connect customers from TTC subway and bus rapid transit to YRT and GO bus service via an underground pedestrian walkway, is in the design phase
We’re also getting ready to award a design contract for a bus terminal near Cornell in Markham to help connect customers to transit and get to and from Markham-Stouffville Hospital easily.
Having facilities and terminals around the Region means our growing transit system will be well supported, and passengers will be well connected. These projects may not be on the roads, but they’re some of the most important parts of York Region’s transit infrastructure off the roads.