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York Region Transit: Viva service thread

Okay, by writing it up by tonight it seems I meant 12 days later... -_-

Anyways, here it is:

So a big complaint about the proposed busway along Centre St is that it will hurt the numerous businesses along this stretch. Specifically it will mean that left turns will be more restricted due to signalling and the lack of a centre turning lane.

The reality is that such a complaint has absolutely no merit whatsoever! There are COUNTLESS places along arterials where turns are restricted because of centre medians, yet businesses continue to thrive. And from a driver's perspective, that is exactly what these lanes will be: centre medians.

That said, turns will be somewhat more restrictive than they are now, but such a setup will be unlikely to discourage a driver from visiting a business along this corridor. Like centre medians, there are plenty of businesses which have entrances regulated by a left turn only signal, and they do just fine. Not to mention when traffic is bad enough, many drivers cannot turn until the yellow anyways. Hell, when I have needed to make a left on Yonge at an unregulated intersection, specifically between 16th/Carville and Highway 7, I have either gone around the block or made a U-turn because it is so difficult and congested!

Finally, this is ignoring the increased exposure these businesses will receive from having an attractive bus rapid transit line running through their front yards. With the Spadina subway opening soon along with the increased growth planned along this corridor, many more people will be taking this route between destinations.

Admittedly, public transit in York Region is currently second fiddle to the car. Currently YRT mostly brings in choice riders when they are trying to beat congestion at GO stations or avoid paying for parking at York University or the subway. However with increasing gas prices and population density and growth, this is quickly changing. And York Region is preparing for these changes by giving public transit an advantage over driving and congestion wherever possible. Businesses along this stretch should not be fearing these busways, but embracing them as this corridor is soon to transform into a major economic avenue for south-central York Region!
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https://www.facebook.com/YRTBN
 
Well said. The whole fuss is really just an attempt to create an election wedge issue. It's debatable as to whether there's even "numerous" businesses" that will be affected. I've found the comparisons to St. Clair particularly offensive. It's ridiculous for residents to argue they didn't know about a 5-year-old process or to compare a stretch with a crappy big box plaza and a series of abandoned bungalows to an entirely urban street, lined by 50-year old businesses. But try they have.

As you point out, there may be LESS turning but that's not huge. The No Frills plaza, at New Westminister, is connected to the 2 plazas next door so you basically have 3 contiguous strip malls with more driveways than they need.

One thing you left out as a factor likely to increase business is that the rapidway will almost certainly stimulate mid-rise development, with retail at grade and those new businesses should benefit from increased walkability in the district (as will the existing ones). Aside from Davis Drive, I'm not sure there's a road more likely to benefit from the development a BRT will bring.
 
Just to let you guys know, the plaza at New Westminister and Centre is owned by RioCan (Riocentre Thornhill) and is slated for rezoning. If I remember, it's planned for condos and a new retail centre.
 
yrt+viva=1system said:
Just to let you guys know, the plaza at New Westminister and Centre is owned by RioCan (Riocentre Thornhill) and is slated for rezoning. If I remember, it's planned for condos and a new retail centre.
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In addition, the vacant lot just south of the plaza at New Westminster and Bathurst (Atkinson Viva) is being rezoned for 7+12+12+27 storey towers with street-fronting retail on the base of one tower.

http://www.vaughan.ca/council/minutes_agendas/AgendaItems/CW(PH)0611_1.pdf#PUBLIC HEARING

Plans and elevations are at the end of the document.
 
yrt+viva=1system said:
Just to let you guys know, the plaza at New Westminister and Centre is owned by RioCan (Riocentre Thornhill) and is slated for rezoning. If I remember, it's planned for condos and a new retail centre.
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That is a very large complex. It includes both the No Frills area and Winners / Homesense.

Any idea what the new development would look like?
 
Transportfan said:
Thornhill still having it's own newspaper goes to show just how psychologically fragmented York Region is.
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Well, really it says more about how companies target their markets. The same company also has a Village Post (Yorkville/Forest Hill area), North Toronto Post (Rosedale, North TO area) etc etc. and I don't think that shows much about how fragmented Toronto is. Thornhill didn't spontaneously excrete its own newspaper, after all. Some guy just decided he wanted to sell stuff to uppity suburban communities.

That said, Thornhill is relatively unique because it's divided between Markham and Vaughan. People are more likely to say they're from TH than either of those actual municipalities. And, on a larger scale, I doubt most people in Thornhill could find Pefferlaw or Mt. Albert on a map (and vice versa). to bring it back on-thread, it's worth remembering that YRT has to serve all these people, regardless of whether they know their fellow riders even exist, so they have a very diverse geography and ridership to target. A lot of challenges to face there.
 
Transportfan said:
Thornhill still having it's own newspaper goes to show just how psychologically fragmented York Region is.
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This is a free newspaper with a few articles about events, restaurants and attractions throughout Toronto and York Region and the remaining 80% is advertising.
High end advertisers and retailers targeting wealthy neighbourhoods has nothing to do with Thornhill whatsoever.

The Magazine's tag line below demonstrates that Thornhill is actually part of Toronto, Richmond hill too.

clock-titles.gif
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
Well, really it says more about how companies target their markets. The same company also has a Village Post (Yorkville/Forest Hill area), North Toronto Post (Rosedale, North TO area) etc etc. and I don't think that shows much about how fragmented Toronto is. Thornhill didn't spontaneously excrete its own newspaper, after all. Some guy just decided he wanted to sell stuff to uppity suburban communities.
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I didn't know that. I thought it was just a community newspaper that existed since Thornhill was still a real village. I didn't know about the 416 versions.
 
Transportfan said:
I didn't know that. I thought it was just a community newspaper that existed since Thornhill was still a real village. I didn't know about the 416 versions.
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You may be thinking of the Thornhill Liberal (the Posts are monthly magazines) which is pretty much the same as the Richmond Hill Liberal. Those actually are old papers (I forget which one is real) but all those little papers are bought up by the Metroland chain, which is then owned by Torstar. So, they are pre-existing, historic papers but with little relation at this point to their founding.
 
Did YRT move some Viva buses to their regular routes? I was taking the bus up Yonge, and I think I saw a Van Hool 40' operating the 99 route, and in the standard YRT livery. Granted, my view was obstructed since the bus I was riding had an ad over the window, so it may have been just a New Flyer 40' LFR bus, but I am certain it was a standard YRT bus and not a Viva.
 
Electrify said:
Did YRT move some Viva buses to their regular routes? I was taking the bus up Yonge, and I think I saw a Van Hool 40' operating the 99 route, and in the standard YRT livery. Granted, my view was obstructed since the bus I was riding had an ad over the window, so it may have been just a New Flyer 40' LFR bus, but I am certain it was a standard YRT bus and not a Viva.
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Yes, I've seen about 10 Van Hool A330s painted in YRT colours, though they've all been on training runs.

They have been renumbered into YRT's numbering scheme, which has 2 digit identifiers following the last digit(s) of the model year, compared to 3 digits on Viva. I've seen numbers ranging from 501 to 509. My guess is that 5101 became 501, 5102 became 502, etc.

I suspect that YRT has decided to run Viva exclusively with articulated buses for ease of scheduling.
 
YRT has selected 20 Viva Van Hool A330s to be converted into YRT buses, generally they are the surplus buses that came from Viva Orange and Green when service was cutback. These buses have also had their interiors re-done to be as similar to the interior of the 2005 New Flyers. What is interesting is that even the new seats in the YRT A330 carry the old fabric design as opposed to what is seen with the latest YRT New Flyers. The overall goal for is to have Viva solely operated by articulated 60' buses.

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looks good in the YRT colours but they shouldve kept the alloy rims..... looks way better than the cheap steel ones that will peel and rust within a year
 
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