York Region Transit Bernard Terminal

Bernard Terminal
Blue	Purple	Pink	Orange	Yellow
Address		10909 Yonge Street
Local Routes		81, 83, 86, 98, 99, 443, 445, 447, 448
Style		Terminal
Opening Date		1996
Next Station		19th-Gamble (North) Elgin Mills (South)

Also see: Bernard VIVAstation

Bernard Terminal is a transit terminal located in Richmond Hill, ON. It is located on the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue in northern Richmond Hill. Buses stop behind a strip plaza in a plaza parking lot.

Bernard is a small L-shaped terminal. Buses enter the terminal from Yonge Street, and exit onto Bernard Avenue. There are 3 platforms on the west facing side, 3 platforms on the north facing side, and additional stops on Bernard Avenue and Yonge Street. A fare payment machine is located between Platforms 1 and 2 on the west facing side.

Pedestrian entrances to the terminal are from the middle of the strip plaza and a staircase/ramp from the intersection of Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue.

At approximately 3,817 passengers on an average weekday, Bernard Terminal is the 7th busiest transit passenger loading location in the YRT/Viva network according to the 2013 Transportation Fact Book.

History

Bernard Terminal was originally built in 1996 for GO Transit. It replaced Richmond Heights Plaza as the northern terminus for its busy Yonge 'C' route. Newmarket 'B' buses also passed by on their way to Newmarket. Richmond Hill Transit also moved their major terminus from Richmond Heights Plaza to the new Bernard Terminal.

YRT took over operations of Richmond Hill Transit in 2001. The takeover of the Yonge 'C' route in 2003 significantly increased YRT traffic and significantly decreased GO usage of the terminal.

In 2005, Viva Blue commenced operations. Every second bus uses the terminal to loop, while buses heading to/from Newmarket stay on Yonge Street without entering the terminal.

The extremely compact and small size of Bernard meant that the volume of routes serving the terminal during rush hours started to overcrowd the terminal. As a result, route 83 was moved to stop outside the terminal at a shelter on Bernard Avenue in 2006. YRT also merged routes 98 and 99 during late evenings, so buses serviced both routes from the stops on Yonge Street. These two changes dropped service levels so that Bernard was a very quiet terminal outside of rush hours.

Routes

Current platform layout.

Bernard Terminal serves 1 Viva route and 5 YRT routes.

Bays are listed in order from entering the terminal on Yonge Street:

• Platform 1: Viva unloading/layover platform
• Platform 2: Viva Blue
• Platform 3: YRT 86
• Platform 4: YRT 81
• Platform 5: YRT 98
• Platform 6: YRT 99
• Bernard Avenue: YRT 83, 443, 445, 447, 448
• Yonge Street: Viva Blue, 98/99

Viva Blue to/from Newmarket loads at the Vivastations on Yonge Street south of Bernard Ave. Routes 98 and 99 are interlined during late evenings and do not enter the terminal, and instead also use the stops on Yonge Street. Route stops on Bernard Ave. in front of the terminal.