Tag: Viva

Categories
Live-work-play Rapidways Urban Planning

Bringing the vivaNext vision for Markham into focus

An artist rendering of what the new Downtown Markham transit-pedestrian mall may look like.
An artist rendering of what the new Downtown Markham transit-pedestrian mall may look like.

Markham Centre is on the verge of becoming a world-class, mixed-use urban centre and a key destination place.

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.

Categories
Rapidways Stations

How level boarding at our new vivastations will further enhance service efficiency

With level boarding, the vehicle will pull up to a raised platform. This greatly increases the time it takes for passengers to get on and off the vehicle making for a faster trip.
This is a rendering of a viva vehicle stopping at a new vivastation. With level boarding, the vehicle will pull up to a raised platform. This greatly decreases the time it takes for passengers to get on and off making for a faster trip.

Viva is already a highly efficient rapid transit service thanks to features such as our off-board fare collection system. It’s going to get even better. In addition to our new vivaNext rapidways – which will take our beautiful blue Viva vehicles out of mixed traffic and put them on dedicated centre lanes so they can safely speed past congested traffic – our new vivastations will feature level boarding.

What do I mean by level boarding? Simply that the platforms at our new vivastations will be raised so they are about the same height as the floor of our Viva vehicles. This, in turn, will speed up the boarding process by eliminating the need for riders to climb steps or lift objects, and for Viva drivers to lower ramps for easier accessibility.

Level boarding is already successfully used throughout the world by other BRT, LRT and subway systems to enhance service efficiency. It only made sense to make it a feature of our new vivastations so that we can get you where you want to go faster and easier, and like never before.

Can you think of other things that might make your rapid transit experience even better?

Categories
Going Green Rapidways Urban Planning

Bogotá, Colombia cashes in on its rapid transit success story

A Transmilenio bus travels in its dedicated lane through the streets of Bogotá, Colombia. Photo courtesy of DianaCats.
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.

, 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

Categories
Going Green

A great way to spare our air in warmer weather is to take transit

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

Categories
Announcements Community Events Ways to win

Congratulations to our Grand Prize winner Larisa Roiberg

Contest Grand Prize winner Larisa Roiberg shows off her new iPod touch.
Contest Grand Prize winner Larisa Roiberg shows off her new iPod touch.

The sun may be in short supply this summer but the sunny smile of our Grand Prize winner, Larisa Roiberg, sure made up for it. The Friday before last, a beaming Larisa stopped by our vivaNext office to pick up her new iPod touch® after her name was randomly selected from all eligible entrants in our Next Best Thing To Summer Contest.

So how did her winning streak begin?

Larisa says she learned about our contest when she stopped by one of our booths at the mall to learn more about vivaNext projects. While there, the vivaNext team told her how much fun it was to complete our interactive story, so she decided to go online and give it a try when she got home. And wow, is she glad she did.

During the four weeks that our contest ran, about a thousand people submitted entries that showed us what their picture perfect summer looks like. Perhaps you were one of them, and maybe you were even one of the daily prize winners?

If not, don’t worry because you’ll soon have plenty of other chances to win during our upcoming fall and winter contests. The prizes will be just as exciting so be sure to watch for news about them here, on Twitter and at vivaNext.com.

Categories
Announcements Press Subways

Big step toward starting construction on the Spadina subway extension

Chair Fisch and the other dignitaries pose for cameras in front of a scale model of a tunnel boring machine.
Chair Fisch and the other dignitaries pose for cameras in front of a scale model of a tunnel boring machine.

Lovat, an Ontario-based company that makes tunnel boring equipment, has been awarded a $58-million contract to build four machines that will be used in the construction of the Spadina subway extension.

The announcement was made last Friday, August 7, at the Lovat plant by Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley, joined by MP Bob Dechert, York Regional Chair and CEO Bill Fisch, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone and Lovat President Dick Cooper. Not only does this mean the creation of some 200 jobs in the GTA and a boost to the economy, it signals continued progress on the project as it’s scheduled to open in 2015.

Prior to the announcement, I had the pleasure of joining the group for a bit of a tour of Lovat. We met at one end of their Mississauga plant and walked through to the other end while learning about what’s involved in making tunnel boring equipment. Cameras and reporters were waiting at the end of the tour to hear each dignitary deliver a short speech about the announcement.

It was awe-inspiring to watch the dignitaries being interviewed in front of a massive tunnel boring machine. They’re HUGE. Just take a look at the picture below to see how big they are compared to the people near them.

Lovat has built similar and even larger machines for projects all around the world, from Algeria to Venezuela. “We are pleased to be a part of this significant mass-transit project, as it not only generates jobs and strengthens infrastructure locally, but also highlights Canada’s technological capabilities on a global scale,” said Cooper.

The first two machines are expected to be delivered in the fall of 2010, with tunnel boring to begin shortly after.

York Regional Chairman Bill Fisch speaks to the audience and TV cameras in front of an actual tunnel boring machine last Friday.
York Regional Chair and CEO Bill Fisch speaks to the audience and TV cameras in front of an actual tunnel boring machine last Friday.
Categories
Studies Subways

Metrolinx’s interim report recommends subway over BRT on Yonge

What a transit sign may look like at the Richmond Hill Centre with connections to a subway, YRT and Viva busses, and GO trains.
What a transit sign may look like at the Richmond Hill Centre with connections to a subway, YRT and Viva busses, and GO trains.

Last Friday, Metrolinx released its interim Benefits Case Analysis (BCA) for the Yonge North Subway extension.

The BCA was developed by Metrolinx in collaboration with the City of Toronto, the Regional Municipality of York and the Toronto Transit Commission. The analysis looked at two subway options, and a bus rapid transit option.

Here are the key findings:

  • The subway options have a far greater positive impact on the environment, economy, land development and community than the BRT.
  • The economic impacts of the subway options are considerable – creating 21,800 person-years of employment.
  • Both subway options provide better service and reliability than the BRT. The BRT is not as reliable as the subway and would likely experience substantial overcrowding in peak hours.
  • The BRT is not considered a long term solution.
  • The BRT is likely limited by technology, and would not have sufficient capacity for the long-term needs of the corridor.

The proposed subway extension will meet up with the rapidways along Hwy. 7, which will soon get under construction. The combination of the rapidways and a connecting subway on Yonge St. creates a viable alternative to driving and will make it much easier for people to travel between York Region and Toronto.

While we would like to see the Yonge Subway extension proceed immediately, we know that projects of this magnitude can’t happen overnight. We will continue to work with all stakeholders and analyze the overall network elements, such as GO electrification impacts, the TTC capacity study at Yonge/Bloor, as well as the Downtown Relief Line.

The benefits of this project are significant and long-term. We will continue to work with all levels of government to ensure the funding is in place to keep this project moving forward.

The executive summary of the interim BCA is available here.

Categories
Subways

See how our subway system compares to others around the world.

Like Toronto, most of the great cities around the world have a subway system to connect people to key destinations and get people where they need to go faster, without relying on a personal vehicle. So how does ours compare in terms of vastness and complexity? At fakeisthenewreal.org, we found a really neat and simple linear illustration of 36 different subways systems, from Toronto to Tokyo and beyond, all shown on the same scale.

While cities such as London, Moscow, New York and Seoul all have subway systems that are both vast and complex, the ones in some cities tend to be one or the other. For instance, in San Francisco, Washington DC and Los Angeles, the subway systems are vast but not very complex. On the other hand, in Tokyo, Paris and Madrid, they are complex but not very vast. Then, of course, there are subway systems in some other cities that are neither.

So where does Toronto’s current subway system fit in? Ours is similar to those found in cities such at Athens and Delhi. It’s neither vast nor complex and consists of only a few lines covering a relatively small area.

Fortunately, the vastness of our subway system will dramatically improve with the subway extensions that are part of the vivaNext plan. They include the Spadina subway extension that will extend north-west 8.6 kilometres from Downsview Station in Toronto to the Vaughan Corporate Centre in Vaughan, and the Yonge subway extension that will extend north 6.8 kilometres from Finch Station in Toronto to the Langstaff/Richmond Hill Centre by Highway 7. Both of these subway extensions will further connect with vivaNext’s new east-west Highway 7 rapidway that will extend from Highway 50 in Vaughan to Reesor Road in Markham.

Categories
Community Events vivaNext.com Ways to win

Thanks for making our Next Best Thing To Summer Contest such a success.

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.

Categories
Community Events

Team vivaNext will be at the Woodbridge Italian Festival this weekend

Soccer teams of every description will be out in full force this Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2 at the annual Woodbridge Italian Festival, taking place at the Ontario Soccer Centre, 7601 Martin Grove Road, just south of Highway 7.

The vivaNext team will also be there from 3 to 11:30 p.m. each day to cheer participants on and talk to residents about vivaNext projects, including the Highway 7 rapidway, which will make it so much faster and easier to take transit to events like this one in the future.

In addition to such soccer highlights such as the “VIP Soccer Challenge” between Vaughan City Council and members of the media, festival attendees of all ages can look forward to two spectacular days filled with food, entertainment, fashion, music, games and much more. Plus, if you are there Saturday evening, you will get to see the Miss Woodbridge Italia Pageant. Best of all, admission for everything is free.

We look forward to seeing you there!