An artist rendering of a viva vehicle riding on the rapidway
Recently, we received $1.4 billion in funding to build rapidways. But what are rapidways? It is the term for centre of the road, rapid transit-only lanes that we will build for Viva vehicles to travel in.
It’s rapid because, without being stuck in traffic, Viva will be able to zip through congested areas making it the better way to get around York Region.
Rapidways will put the rapid into rapid transit. Right now, our vehicles compete with all the other cars and trucks on the road. During times of high volume, the rapid transit vehicles will be able to glide past gridlock and actually make for a faster commute than in a car. It’ll be like driving in the carpool lane, but without even other drivers. Similar to how the carpool lane will save you time, we project that the rapidways will make Viva trips 40% faster.
The system is designed to allow for higher capacity light rail trains to replace buses on the rapidways when ridership warrants it. I will follow-up with a more extensive post about this soon.
The subways may seem crowded, but we've got ways to increase capacity. We get a lot of people asking about how the subway extensions will affect the current service and levels of capacity. We understand that extending the line will allow more people to ride and there are plans in place to manage ridership growth and help increase current capacity during peak times, especially at Yonge and Bloor.
Our plan includes opening the Spadina subway extension first to divert riders who begin their commute in the north. We expect this to divert 1,300 peak hour riders away from the Yonge line. There will also be 2,900 parking spaces along the Spadina extension, to divert more riders away from the Yonge line.
A new signaling system will allow trains to run closer together, reducing the wait time between trains. More frequent trains help spread out ridership, reducing the bunching-up effect. The new trains will allow people to walk from one end to the other – making use of space between the train cars that’s currently not possible. In addition, only every second train will go north of Finch Station during the morning peak, meaning every other train arriving at Finch during the morning peak will start its southbound trip empty.
That is a very short overview of some of our plans to increase capacity. Please let me know if you are interested in how any particular plan will work. I like talking about solutions that will make getting around better for everyone.
Students from Cardinal Carter Catholic High School show us their "V" for viva.
Today’s guest bloggers are Andrea Witty, Community Liaison Specialist, and Kathryn Webber, Project & Public Relations Coordinator, who spent Earth Day at Cardinal Carter High School in Aurora talking to the students about the new rapidways that are coming to York Region.
We shared time-lapse animations that showed what Vaughan, Newmarket and Markham will look like in 5-20 years when the rapidways and subway extension projects are built. Being able to actually show the end result of our plan makes talking about it way easier.They loved the images and the peak into the future.
Students were excited about the long range plans to increase connections and make it easier to travel across the region for shopping and work, getting to university and to get to Toronto.
While the vivaNext plan will save people time and prevent stress from being in gridlock, the plan is a part of a long-term sustainable solution to save something much more important than time – our planet.
York Region operates York Region Transit (YRT) as a local transit service and Viva, which is a rapid transit service. Typically, Viva is fed passengers by YRT, which travels in and out of neighbourhoods. Both services are operated by YRT, a branch of York Region’s Transportation Dept., and work together as one system to provide you with seamless connections across all nine municipalities.
As strange as it may seem, York Region Rapid Transit Corporation is separate from YRT and Viva, and does not operate the service. York Region Rapid Transit Corporation is responsible for designing and building the rapid transit plan [vivaNext].
That’s us. We’re responsible for designing, developing and building the future rapid transit system in York Region. Through a process of public consultations, we gather input from the community to ensure that the needs of local businesses, residents and other groups are being met and their concerns are addressed. The new system allows you to move between regions and within York Region faster than ever before. That’s thanks to subway extensions and rapidway lanes, where transit vehicles can move without getting caught in traffic.
As each vivaNext project is completed, YRT takes on the operations, and also develops service plans for where and how often each route will travel. For you, it means a seamless and well-connected service.
The final frame of the time-lapse animation in Markham
I’ll save you the suspense and just say that their eyes lit up and all the Mayors wanted to know when they would get a copy of the final images and time-lapse videos. In fact, one of the reporters there requested electronic copies of the three images shown. Guess we’ll see that in print this weekend.
For us, they have been developing time-lapse animations of how Markham, Vaughan and Newmarket will change over the next 5-10 years as communities are built around transit.
In only a few seconds, the time-lapse animation shows how these different areas will change as subways and rapidways come to York Region. They are still works in progress and will look even better when completed in a few weeks. So be sure to check back on our website to see the videos, and I’ll let you know here when they’re done.
I like going to meetings like this because it gives us a chance to talk with elected officials, members of the public and the media about how our progress is going and to hear their thoughts.
I recently created this blog to serve as an informal way to give you a behind-the-scenes look and engage in the online conversation about vivaNext.
But you may not know that we also just launched a new website that is super sleek and easier to navigate.
I’m extremely proud of our former website, in fact it even won a Webby award, the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet. But times change and technology evolves allowing us to share so much more information with you on our new website in a more creative way.
It’ll include the latest information on subway and rapidway progress, a section on how to get involved and details on who to contact with questions.
One of the coolest features is what we are calling a peak behind the construction wall. Here you can see what tunnel boring and station building looks like. We’ll also showcase our videos including time-lapse animation that will show you what the rapidways will look like and how they’ll fit into your community.
And of course, just like the previous website, there will be a game because we are always looking for ways to have fun.
Go ahead, tour our new online stop and let me know what you think.
A BRT isn’t just any old bus system. It’s a highly complex system that quickly transports thousands of people reliably every day. The best systems, cough…vivaNext…cough have dedicated bus only lanes to avoid traffic congestion and maintain a fast level of service. While no transit system is perfect, BRTs are some of the most effective systems around. They’re lower cost than rail, have a high capacity, offer riders speed and reliability and have the flexibility to be redirected where needed.
A view of what a Rapidway will look like
You may not know this but York Region is one of only a dozen communities in Canada that has what is called “Bus Rapid Transit”, fondly referred to as BRT in the transit industry. In fact, York Region’s BRT stands shoulder to shoulder with communities like Calgary, Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver.
When we were laying the groundwork for vivaNext, we naturally took a good look at the BRTs throughout Canada. One of the most extensive transit systems in the country is located in our nation’s capital. While Ottawa has been getting plenty of bad press due to a recently resolved transit strike, Ottawa’s bus system is truly a marvel. Ottawa faces challenges related to urban sprawl – to compensate the city has built a 30 km dedicated bus-only lane that winds its way throughout the city and adjacent communities.
According to an analysis done by the Canadian Urban Transit Association, Ottawa’s BRT system can carry up to 10,000 passengers and 185 buses per hour in each direction.
Vancouver is also doing some truly remarkable work. Vancouver’s BRT system was first introduced in 1996 in advance of a planned rail transit system. In response to the population growth, the Province of British Coloumbiaannouncedthey will invest $1.2 billion in 9 Rapidbus BC routes by 2020.
What is clear when you look at both cities is that BRT is an essential part of any transit system. Municipal bus service, BRT, LRT, subway and trains – they all play an important role in an overall transit network to supply adequate, cost-effective service that’s fast and convenient.
What great cities have you visited that had wonderful transit systems?
They came from the U.S. to see what is happening in York Region. Representatives from the “collar” counties of Chicago including Cook and DuPage came to our offices last week to learn about our rapid transit project.
They have visited Los Angeles and other cities to observe successful examples of rapid transit systems in action. Instead of reinventing the wheel, they are learning from what is out there, and according to the representatives, our system is one of the best.
These government officials and city planners come from a place that is similar to York Region in many ways. Some of their counties have a population of about a million people and are a suburb of a major city. They are in the situation of needing a solution faster than building a subway. That is why they wanted to see how we built phase one and how we are developing vivaNext.
They had questions about how bus rapid transit works, why we chose this technology, how our private/public partnership works and how we are marketing transit alternatives to a suburban population.
When we first started, we looked around the world to gather ideas. Now, as a testament to the good job we are doing, other cities are looking at vivaNext for ideas.
While they are just in the preliminary studies stage of building their system, if you find yourself in Chicago or its “collar” counties in the near future, you might just find yourself riding on a system that seems remarkably similar to the one in York Region.
Premier Dalton McGuinty announces billions for transit projects
I’m really excited about this recent announcement. If you haven’t heard – or didn’t click on the link above – vivaNext rapidway projects are being funded with $1.4 billion from the Government of Ontario.
I’m excited because this means faster and better connections for everyone. Let’s face it, the faster, more accessible and more reliable public transit is, the more people will choose to use it instead of driving.
The funding will allow us to put shovels in the ground this year on four specific areas:
1) Highway 7 – from about Jane St. in Vaughan to Kennedy Rd. in Markham
2) Yonge St. – from about Highway 7 to 19th Ave. in Richmond Hill
3) Yonge St. – from Mulock Dr. to Davis Dr. in Newmarket
4) Davis Dr. – from Yonge St. to the Southlake Regional Hospital
But this funding announcement wasn’t isolated to York Region. Premier McGuinty is investing billions on transit projects in the GTA.
While we celebrated this announcement at the office, I began to think about just how much work now stands before us and how some people will likely be skeptical. I can assure you that final preparations will be done and we will begin construction this fall.
Viva’s blue buses are some of the greenest in the world. We weren’t in the office during the official Earth Hour, but we still wanted to do our part. For one hour on Friday, March 27, we turned off our lights and had a litter-less lunch. Staff members also received energy efficient light bulbs to take home.
Across Ontario the demand for power dropped over 6% and demand was down over 15% in Toronto alone. Around the world, over 4,000 cities from 80 countries turned off the lights. Organizers believe that about a billion people participated.
But vivaNext knows that turning off lights for an hour is only part of a solution. That is why we work year-round on transit solutions that will decrease the carbon in our atmosphere.
What did you do during Earth Hour to help our environment?
