Tag: Rapidway

Categories
Community Events Ways to win

The vivaNext ‘segway’ team will continue to drive awareness at the Markham Home Show this weekend

Team vivaNext member, Donald Chang, speaks with a woman interested in the rapidways coming to York Region Friday at the Home Show.
Team vivaNext member, Donald Chang, speaks with a woman interested in the rapidways coming to York Region Friday at the Home Show.

They’re back! Our vivaNext ‘segway’ team was such a big hit at Markville Mall last weekend, they’ll be making an appearance again this weekend at the Markham Home Show.

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.
** Wireless service provider charges may apply.
Categories
Community Events Ways to win

Team vivaNext drives awareness while riding on segways at Markville Mall

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.
** Wireless service provider charges may apply.

Categories
Announcements Community Events Ways to win

More fun + great prizes en route!


It’s been about a month since Larisa Roiberg, the Grand Prize winner in our Next Best Thing to Summer Contest, picked up her brand new iPod touch®. Now, here I am again letting you know about our exciting new contest beginning October 9, 2009, and running through until October 30, 2009.

This time, the Grand Prize that’s en route is the new iPod nano®.* Plus, we’ll be giving away great daily prizes including Tim Hortons gift certificates, Cadillac Fairview mall gift certificates, movie passes, and YRT\Viva 2-zone passes.

The goal of this latest contest is to highlight all of the great things that are en route with the vivaNext plan – faster transit, better connections and attractive boulevards.

Simply visit vivaNext.com for entry details. You can enter once a day. Each time you do, you get a chance to win the daily prize plus the Grand Prize. That means you can get up to 22 chances to win the new iPod nano®.

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.
** Wireless service provider charges may apply.
Categories
Community Events

Excitement Builds for vivaNext at Markham Fair

Our vivaNext team had a great time at the Markham Fair talking to people from all over York Region about what our projects will mean for them. During the four-day event, we spoke to thousands of people and handed out hundreds of enviro bags, lollipops and informational brochures.

Take a look at our video below for just some of the highlights of this year’s fair, and to see what some people had to say about the vivaNext plan.

Didn’t get your chance to appear on camera and comment on vivaNext? Make your own short video talking about our projects, send it to us and we’ll post it on YouTube.

Categories
Community Events

Kick off fall with vivaNext at the Markham Fair

Team vivaNext at the Fair on Thursday.
Team vivaNext at the Fair on Thursday.

One of the biggest Markham community events of the year is going on right now on the Markham Fairgrounds. In fact, it is also Canada’s largest four-day agricultural fair.

Over 80,000 people are expected to visit the fairgrounds to watch a demolition derby, monster trucks, an FMX bike demonstration, a tractor and truck pull, a teen talent show, a horse show, live music and more. Even Dora the Explorer is making an appearance on Sunday and will meet and greet the kids.

In addition to all these activities, the vivaNext team will also be there to talk to you about our new rapidways that will get you around York Region’s busiest corridors faster. We will have our booth set up inside with a team ready to answer your questions.

The Fair runs today through Sunday and is located on McCowan north of Major MacKenzie. For more information on how to get there, the price of admission, and the hours, please click here.

For a $2 off adult admission coupon provided through the Markham Fair website, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you at the Markham Fair.

Categories
Announcements Rapidways Subways

Customized vivaNext email updates are just a click away

So far, over 4,000 people have signed-up to receive our regular vivaNext email updates. Perhaps you’re one of them. Recently, we made it possible for you to customize the updates you receive.

You can now choose to receive email updates for a specific vivaNext project – or all of them if you want.

To do so, simply click here or visit our “subscribe for updates” page at vivaNext.com and select from the following list:

Davis Drive rapidway
Highway 7 rapidway – Markham
Highway 7 rapidway – Vaughan
Yonge Street rapidway
Yonge Subway extension
Spadina Subway extension
Don Mills Road/Leslie Street LRT
Jane Street LRT

It’s as fast to sign-up as it will be to travel in York Region with vivaNext.

Tell us – which vivaNext project interests you the most?

Categories
General Studies Urban Planning

Ridership across country to soar shows study

Passengers wait to board Viva.
Passengers wait to board Viva. A new study shows that ridership will greatly increase in the coming decades.

Transit ridership is expected to nearly double in Canada over the next 30 years as the population rises to 42 million, with most of those people living in urban centres.

This is according to a report released recently by the Canadian Urban Transit Association, which represents public transit agencies across the country.

The report, titled Vision 2040, suggests all levels of government must work together to put transit at the centre of community planning and design. This will help create communities that reduce dependency on cars.

“Today, national transit ridership and investment are both at all-time highs,” states the report. “Transit is widely recognized as an important part of the solution to national challenges including economic prosperity, climate change, public health, safety and security.”

When factoring population growth, ridership will increase from 1.76 billion trips in 2007 to 3.28 billion trips in 2040.

To deal with this increase, CUTA says large cities and major metropolitan areas such as York Region and Toronto, must focus on integrating transit services and expanding rapid transit.

It sounds like vivaNext is on the right track with subway extensions that will be the backbone of a seamless transit system. The subway extensions and dedicated lanes will improve travel times throughout the Viva network and help to shape successful urban revitalization.

Read the final report.

Watch the video and see how transit will play a role in the future: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Transit Vision 2040 Video”.

What do you think of this vision? What do you see as the role of transit in the future?

Categories
Rapidways Subways Urban Planning

We talk a lot about the rapidways, subways and LRTs that are coming.

But when you boil it down, that’s not what vivaNext is really about. VivaNext is the plan to provide you with faster and easier rapid transit connections, so you have more time to enjoy whatever awaits you at your final destination. It’s not only our goal; it’s our slogan – “vivaNext. it’s about connections. it’s about time.”

Transit hubs at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and Richmond Hill/Langstaff Urban Growth Centre, where the Spadina and Yonge subway extensions will respectively meet Highway 7, is just one way vivaNext plans to improve connections. At these locations, riders will be able to make convenient connections with Viva, GO Transit commuter rail and express buses, YRT and other transit systems.

Rapidways is yet another way vivaNext is putting the rapid into rapid transit – up to 40% faster. How? By featuring dedicated centre lanes in roadways to allow our beautiful blue Viva vehicles to safely speed past congested traffic, no matter what time of day.

So tell us…When the vivaNext projects are complete, which connection point will be the most important for your daily commute?

Categories
Community Events

Back to school with vivaNext

Drop by our booth at York University to learn how our plans will improve your quality of life.

Viva vehicles on the York University campus.
Viva vehicles on the York University campus.

The rapidways and subway extensions will make it faster and easier for people living and working in York Region to get around. This is especially true for current and future students, faculty and staff at York University. Within the next four years, new rapidway stops in dedicated lanes will be near the campus and within the next six years, two subway stops will be right on the campus. Construction will begin on both of these fully-funded projects within the year.

When complete, not only will you save time getting there, but you’ll save on parking. If you’ve already graduated, then these projects will make it faster and easier for you to get to work and connect with other places.

We will be on campus Sept. 16 for the Annual Clubs BBQ. On Sept. 17, we will be there, joined by all of the other public transit providers in the area plus cycling networks and car share companies, for the Transportation Fair.

Here is some more information about the events we’ll be at.

Annual Clubs BBQ

Date: Wednesday September 16 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Vanier Field

Transportation Fair

Date: Thursday September 17 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: York Lanes Mall

Categories
Announcements Live-work-play Rapidways Subways

And the new name is…

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.
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.