York Region Transit Family Of Services

York Region Transit's Family of Services is a series of categories into which all YRT routes are classified. These categories all have standards that must be met; when a route falls outside the recommended level for their category, a review of the service is required to bring it into the standards.

Family of Services

Viva: Viva is the rapid transit network. It is designed to provide frequent, limited-stop service throughout the region along the major corridors.

Examples of Viva routes are VIVA Blue and VIVA Orange.

Base: Base routes form the grid network of the system, operating along all major arterial roads in York Region. Ideally, they will bring 90% of all commercial and residential establishments in the region within 1000m of service.

Base routes in smaller communities may be rated under the Community Bus category to ensure appropriate service levels and cost effectiveness.

Examples of base routes include routes 1 Highway 7, 55 Davis and 85 Rutherford.

Local: Local routes serve as feeders to base routes, or as local circulators. They traditionally connect a community with major attractions. They serve minor arterial and collector roads.

Examples of local routes include routes 23 Thornhill Woods, 40 Unionville Local and 86 Weldrick-Newkirk.

Express: Express routes are designed to move large volumes of passengers with common destinations along a corridor. To qualify for express service, 75% of the passengers must be able to access the service, with a minimum 15% time savings.

There are two classifications of Express routes:

Point Express: A Point Express service provides quick service for large volumes of passengers between two distinct points.

Examples of Point Expresses include routes 300 Business Express and 360 Vaughan Express.

Overlay Express: An Overlay Express service is designed to be implemented alongside an existing route with passengers heading to a common destination. Limited-stop service may be provided.

Examples of Overlay Expresses include routes 340 Bayview Express.

Shuttles: Shuttles are designed to provide local service to/from major destinations such as a GO Station, business area or VIVAstation as directly as possible. They are designed with consideration to the schedules of the location they're serving (GO Train schedules if serving a GO station for example). School Specials fall under this category.

Examples of Shuttles include routes 201 Markham GO Shuttle, 27 Highway 27 and 244 Beaver Creek.

Community Bus: Community buses operate in smaller communities that do not have enough demand to qualify for base and local routes. Community bus routes traditionally serve seniors, so they must operate low-floor buses. Because demand is relatively small, smaller 30ft buses usually provide service.

There are two types of community buses:

Fixed-Route: Fixed-route Community routes operate on local arterial and collector roads, much like local routes do. They traditionally focus on a transit or activity centre.

Examples of a fixed-route community bus include 520/521 Newmarket Community Bus and 589 Richmond Hill Community Bus.

Demand-Responsive: Demand-Responsive Community routes are made where there is some demand for service, but not enough for a fixed-route service.

Base and Local routes in smaller communities are rated under the Community Bus category so they can provide cost-effective service. Routes like 15 Stouffville Local and 51 Keswick are examples of local routes rated under the Community Bus standards.

Dial-A-Ride: Dial-A-Ride is a service implemented in areas where demand at certain time periods does not qualify for traditional bus service. Currently, the only implementation of Dial-A-Ride service is during Monday-Saturday evenings along route 44 Bristol.