York Region Transit \ Viva

[Ed Drass]

Howdy, all. I note that the YRT Trip Planner is showing route 20 stopping at the SmartCentres Place Bus Terminal but I see no indication online it has opened. Is the trip planner being approximate or overly hasty...?

Balancing frequency and convenience (particularly for visitors), what is the best route from downtown Toronto to Vaughan Mills Mall? Does your view apply both for weekdays and weekends?

How about going to Canada’s Wonderland? ... GO from Yorkdale? 20 from VMC? 760 from Finch?

I lean to the 20 from VMC to both destinations for simplicity and directness... but I have reservations about  it— especially where it appears you have a long walk to the Wonderland gates...?

thanks, ed 

 

[Viva5113]

4 hours ago, Ed Drass said:

Howdy, all. I note that the YRT Trip Planner is showing route 20 stopping at the SmartCentres Place Bus Terminal but I see no indication online it has opened. Is the trip planner being approximate or overly hasty...?

Balancing frequency and convenience (particularly for visitors), what is the best route from downtown Toronto to Vaughan Mills Mall? Does your view apply both for weekdays and weekends?

How about going to Canada’s Wonderland? ... GO from Yorkdale? 20 from VMC? 760 from Finch?

I lean to the 20 from VMC to both destinations for simplicity and directness... but I have reservations about  it— especially where it appears you have a long walk to the Wonderland gates...?

thanks, ed 

 

SmartCenteres is not opened but they are using tempoary stop at Millway Avenue. The stops 720x are got assigned stop name as smartcentre regardless its opening.

[Waiting for 30 Minutes]

23 hours ago, Ed Drass said:

Balancing frequency and convenience (particularly for visitors), what is the best route from downtown Toronto to Vaughan Mills Mall? Does your view apply both for weekdays and weekends?

How about going to Canada’s Wonderland? ... GO from Yorkdale? 20 from VMC? 760 from Finch?

I lean to the 20 from VMC to both destinations for simplicity and directness... but I have reservations about  it— especially where it appears you have a long walk to the Wonderland gates...?

The walk to the Wonderland gates will be at least 300 metres whichever service you use. From the terminal, it's along a sidewalk, but from Jane Street, it's through a very active parking lot. It also appears the weekend frequencies of the 20 and 760 are comparable, though the 760 does not run during the week.

[anyfong]

23 hours ago, Ed Drass said:

Howdy, all. I note that the YRT Trip Planner is showing route 20 stopping at the SmartCentres Place Bus Terminal but I see no indication online it has opened. Is the trip planner being approximate or overly hasty...?

Balancing frequency and convenience (particularly for visitors), what is the best route from downtown Toronto to Vaughan Mills Mall? Does your view apply both for weekdays and weekends?

How about going to Canada’s Wonderland? ... GO from Yorkdale? 20 from VMC? 760 from Finch?

I lean to the 20 from VMC to both destinations for simplicity and directness... but I have reservations about  it— especially where it appears you have a long walk to the Wonderland gates...?

thanks, ed 

 

Regarding using route 20 to Canada's Wonderland, the stop at Norwood / Jane is the closest to the park entrance. Measuring the distance on Google Earth, the distance from that stop to the entrance is actually slightly shorter than the walk from Wonderland Terminal to the entrance. Personally I prefer the 20 over the 760 as the former runs more frequently and also is a shorter ride to the subway.

[tommike]

Hi the route 90 will have artic on it next week.

[Doppelkupplung]

[OC Transpo/STO Fan]

16 hours ago, Transit_Hub said:

Found this interesting, 1613 is missing it’s front YRT logo.

Is this really interesting? Come on. 

It's just a logo. It doesn't matter.

[Articulated]

YRT left out one detail from their service changes that take effect tomorrow. Route 90 Leslie will be transferred from Southeast to operate out of the BRT division as of the new board period. The reason for this is to allow for articulated buses to serve the route due to overcrowding.

The 25 Van Hool AG300 buses converted for conventional service will be split between Southwest and BRT garages, and some conventional 40 foot buses will also assigned to the BRT garage for operation during the off-peak (and because there aren't enough artics to handle full service on both routes 20 and 90). Units going to the BRT garage are still TBC, but they will mostly likely include all of the units that have not already seen service on route 20; the 40 foot buses are probably going to be Novas to match equipment already at BRT.

Viva buses have been operating as training buses along route 90 and 90B for the past two weeks, getting drivers familiarized to the routing (8201 posted below is an example of one). Baring any changeoffs, 571 and 577 will be the last Miller-operated buses on route 90.

[Token Dispenser]

On 6/30/2018 at 10:58 AM, Articulated said:

 

The 25 Van Hool AG300 buses converted for conventional service will be split between Southwest and BRT garages, and some conventional 40 foot buses will also assigned to the BRT garage for operation during the off-peak (and because there aren't enough artics to handle full service on both routes 20 and 90). Units going to the BRT garage are still TBC, but they will mostly likely include all of the units that have not already seen service on route 20; the 40 foot buses are probably going to be Novas to match equipment already at BRT.

I thought S/W was a different contract operator than BRT, or has that been changed recently?

[Articulated]

7 hours ago, Token Dispenser said:

I thought S/W was a different contract operator than BRT, or has that been changed recently?

They are different contractors. SW division is contracted to Transdev, while BRT is contracted to TOK Transit.

The conventional buses assigned to BRT for route 90 service so far are 201, 203, 204, 206, 207, 210, 218, 221, 222, and 1501-1506.

[Viva5113]

https://www.yrt.ca/en/schedules-and-maps/york-university-service.aspx

 

YRT is no longer serving York University effective september 2. All viva purple trips will turn back at RHCT.

[Chris W]

5 minutes ago, Viva5113 said:

https://www.yrt.ca/en/schedules-and-maps/york-university-service.aspx

 

YRT is no longer serving York University effective september 2. All viva purple trips will turn back at RHCT.

And they wonder why their ridership is down. It's stuff like this.

[smallspy]

11 hours ago, Chris W said:

And they wonder why their ridership is down. It's stuff like this.

Don't be naive. This has always been the plan, since very early into the planning of the TYSSE. And there will be more announcements from the other transit systems as we get closer to the start of the school year.

 

Dan

[tommike]

so now this going happen, will people smart and transfer to the zum bus to york u?

[UrbanToronto]

6 hours ago, tommike said:

so now this going happen, will people smart and transfer to the zum bus to york u?

 

Not according to Brampton Transit. The 501 will terminate at VMC, while 501A/C will continue to serve York University via Highway 407. Anyone using the 501 in Woodbridge to get to York U will be out of luck. 

York Region has basically wiped its hands clean, especially with the "restructuring" of Viva Purple. It's a nice euphemism for a service cutback, which forces two additional transfers on the trip. It's not just "part of the plan" as Dan suggests - it's a nearly total abandonment. There's no reason why Viva Purple couldn't continue to Pioneer Village except that York Region is stingy with funding transit operating costs.
 

[J. Bullock]

18 hours ago, UrbanToronto said:

 

Not according to Brampton Transit. The 501 will terminate at VMC, while 501A/C will continue to serve York University via Highway 407. Anyone using the 501 in Woodbridge to get to York U will be out of luck. 

 

And why wouldn't the people using the 501 in Woodbridge just transfer at VMC?

[J. Bullock]

On 8/9/2018 at 4:27 PM, Transit_Hub said:

 

Probably because people got used to taking Brampton Transit straight to York University and now that they want to change it, they much rather get there with 1 fare oppose to paying for both BT and TTC.

Fare integration would solve that (but that's a discussion for a different day)

Fine, then transfer to the YRT 20 at Jane, transfer is valid between those two systems, crisis averted.

 

[Viva5113]

T 18-41 SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF CONVENTIONAL/BRT EIGHTEEN METRE BUSES

Tender calls 10 BRT buses in 2019, 18 conventional/6 BRT buses in 2020 and 11conventional/11 BRT buses in 2021.

[Enzo Aquarius]

7 hours ago, Viva5113 said:

T 18-41 SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF CONVENTIONAL/BRT EIGHTEEN METRE BUSES

Tender calls 10 BRT buses in 2019, 18 conventional/6 BRT buses in 2020 and 11conventional/11 BRT buses in 2021.

Tender is for all articulated buses; split between conventional service and BRT. 

[tommike]

lol the end of more viva routes.

[Bus_Medic]

 

54 minutes ago, Transit_Hub said:

Wonder if NFI will get the order this time, that would be interesting.

Yess. Absolutely riveting.

[2044]

I want to double check some edits to the YRT wiki page.

Have all 2005 AG300s been converted to conventional service?

Where did the information come from for buses on order? It is unsourced. Also there is a difference between what is ordered and what is projected.

[Articulated]

22 hours ago, ADB said:

I want to double check some edits to the YRT wiki page.

Have all 2005 AG300s been converted to conventional service?

Where did the information come from for buses on order? It is unsourced. Also there is a difference between what is ordered and what is projected.

Every unit except 224/225 has been spotted in service. I have not seen 5224/5225 in service in a long time either, so whether they are still planned on being refurbished or not I'm not certain.

It looks as though the information on the 40 foot order comes from the original bid document T-17-52. Oddly Council did not approve the award of this contract like usual - it only appears as a line item on a Staff Report summarizing the awards of all contracts for a 3-month period. So unfortunately I cannot confirm at this time the exact breakdown of what was ordered other than what was listed in the original bid documents.

[Orion V]

What happened to the rest of the Viva 17xx order? IIRC, there were suppose to be more but only 5 came and it seems that's it?

[Ed Drass]

On 6/3/2018 at 12:24 PM, Ed Drass said:

Howdy, all. I note that the YRT Trip Planner is showing route 20 stopping at the SmartCentres Place Bus Terminal but I see no indication online it has opened. Is the trip planner being approximate or overly hasty...?

I’m still curious why trip planners are showing the bus terminal at VMC as open. Where does the 20 actually board and is there good signage to that effect? 

I volunteer at Traveller’s Aid in Union Station and want to give reliable directions to Vaughan Mills Mall (when the free shuttle is not an option). If there is a simple connection from the University subway line then it seems odd to direct folks to Finch station for a half hourly bus — even if the 760 does speed along the 407 and 400 to the mall and Canada’s Wonderland. https://www.yrt.ca/en/schedules-and-maps/resources/760.pdf

 

 

 

Regarding the 20: if YRT is cutting back on routes around the subway extension will the 20 eventually terminate at VMC?