York Region Transit route 520/521 'Newmarket Local'

	520/521 Newmarket Local
Number of Branches		2
Types of buses used		E-Z Rider II/BRT/MAX
Division		North (Newmarket)
Related routes		None

520/521 Newmarket Local was a local route operated by York Region Transit in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

Route Details

The route serves Davis Drive, Eagle Street, Gorham Street, Leslie Street, and Yonge Street.

This route also serves Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket GO Station, Southlake Hospital, and 404 Town Centre.

Routes 520/521 connect to VIVA Blue at the Newmarket GO Bus Terminal.

Branches

This route has 2 main branches:

• 520 Clockwise (7 days a week)
• 521 Counter-Clockwise (Weekdays)

History

• June 26, 2005 - Routes 520 and 521 were introduced when York Region Transit decided to experiment with expanding Community Bus routes to more areas. Richmond Hill Transit had operated a community bus route in Richmond Hill (route 89), and was successfully continued by YRT. The new 5xx category would be assigned to the community bus routes, and 520 and 521 were the first routes in this category. Route 520 operated a clockwise routing via Davis Drive, Leslie Street, Ringwell Drive, Harry Walker Parkway, Gorham Street, and Eagle Street and route 521 operated a counterclockwise routing.

• November 20, 2005 - Service extended north on Yonge Street to serve the No Frills, the Loblaws in Green Lane Centre, and the Walmart/Winners. Service is removed from Ringwell Drive and Harry Walker Parkway. Late evening service is removed and replaced with route 56 service. Weekend service on route 521 operating the counterclockwise loop is removed. Newmarket Senior Centre and 679 Davis Drive will no longer be serviced on weekends.

• November 6, 2006 - New service is provided to 540 Timothy Street. The routing to serve the apartment building is an on-street loop via north on Doug Duncan Drive, east on Timothy Street, and south on Prospect Street to Water Street.

• April 29, 2007 - Service is extended to serve the No Frills at 17255 Leslie Street.

• June 27, 2010 - Route is revised to operate on London Road between Yonge Street and Main Street, and on Mulock Drive between Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street to serve new community-request stops at 155 Main Street North, Tom Taylor Place, and the Magna Centre. Service is removed from Gorham Street and from Davis Drive between Yonge Street and Main Street.

• September 5, 2010 - Route is revised to provide service to the new Stronach Regional Cancer Centre adjacent to Southlake Regional Health Centre.

• July 2012 - In order to cut on fuel costs, operations were transferred from Southwest Division to North Division.

• April 5, 2020 - Route is replaced with Mobility On-Request Newmarket Local. The new on-request service will pick-up and drop-off between any YRT stops along the former 520/521 route. Service will operate from 7:00am to 3:00pm.

Vehicles

Back when this route was operated by Mobility Plus, ELF, and E-Z Rider II MAX were the common buses on the route. With the transfer from Southwest to North Division in July 2012, this route is operated exclusively by ElDorado buses of all kinds.

Route Maps

• 
  June 2010 - April 2020
• 
  November 2005 - June 2010

Summary

Major Stops

Major Stop	Branches	Notes
	520/521
Upper Canada Mall	520/521	Eastbound
Food Basics (17725 Yonge St.)	520/521
FreshCo (18075 Yonge St.)	520/521
The Green Lane Centre (Costco)	520/521
Walmart/Winners (17600/17940 Yonge St.)	520/521
155 Main St. North	520/521
Seniors' Meeting Place (474 Davis Dr.)	520/521
Southlake Regional Health Centre	520/521
Patterson St. @ Davis Dr.	520/521
404 Town Centre (Metro/Walmart)	520/521
No Frills (17255 Leslie St.)	520/521	Westbound
349-351 Crowder Blvd.	520/521
Magna Centre/Tom Taylor Place	520/521
540 Timothy St.	520/521
468-474 Eagle St.	520/521
Newmarket Health Centre	520/521
Newmarket GO Bus Terminal	520/521