York Region Transit route 603 'Viva Purple'

	Viva Purple
Number of Branches		2
Types of buses used		Nova Bus LFS Artic; Van Hool A330
Division		BRT (Miller Transit)
Related routes		1

Viva Purple is a Viva route operated by York Region Transit in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham, Ontario, Canada.

Route Details

The current routing of Viva Purple.

5156 on Viva Purple.

8208 on Viva Purple.

Viva Purple mainly serves Highway 7 between Yonge Street and Ninth Line, and Enterprise Boulevard.

Viva Purple serves the Richmond Hill, Unionville, Markham, and Cornell communities. It also serves Beaver Creek Business Park, Seneca College Markham Campus, First Markham Place, Flato Markham Theatre, Markham Civic Centre, Downtown Markham, Markville Mall, Main Street Markham, Markham-Stouffville Hospital, and Cornell Terminal.

Viva Purple connects to Viva Blue and Viva Orange at Richmond Hill Centre.

Branches

This route has 2 main branches:

• Viva Purple Richmond Hill Centre Terminal - Cornell Terminal via Highway 7
• Viva Purple A Richmond Hill Centre Terminal - Cornell Terminal via Enterprise

History

• September 4, 2005 - Viva Purple first started operating as part of Viva Phase 1. It initially operated between York University and Town Centre Boulevard.

• October 16, 2005 - Viva Purple is extended further east to McCowan Road with the opening of Viva Phase 2. With construction of Enterprise Boulevard yet to be complete, service between Town Centre and Kennedy Road temporarily operated via Highway 407 and Unionville GO Station.

• November 20, 2005 - Viva Phase 3 is introduced extending service west from York University to Martin Grove Road during weekday peak periods only. All off-peak service continues to operate between York University and McCowan Road.

• September 4, 2007 - Rush hour service west of York University to Martin Grove was discontinued and replaced with increased service on Viva Orange. Extra buses were added to the segment between York University and Richmond Hill Centre to address overcrowding and weekday service across the route is increased to 10-minute frequencies. In 2007, Viva Purple was officially assigned the number 603. This number was only seen by the public for a short time before being removed, although this number is used on Google Maps' transit routing for the route.

• January 27, 2008 - The long-delayed extension to Markham-Stouffville Hospital begins. Since hospital staff would not allow the frequent service Viva would bring into the hospital grounds, a temporary shelter was built on Church Street. When Cornell Terminal opens, Viva buses will be rerouted into that terminal instead.

• 2010 - Construction begins on the new 6km rapidway on Highway 7 between Yonge Street and Warden Avenue. Viva Purple buses will utilize the new rapidways to speed up service when construction is scheduled to be complete in 2014.

• March 6, 2011 - Viva Purple buses begin using the new Enterprise Boulevard rapidway between Warden Avenue and Birchmount Road.

• February 12, 2012 - To accommodate vivaNext construction, the eastbound Bayview vivastation was moved to High Tech Road just west of Bayview Avenue resulting in a route detour along Yonge Street, High Tech Road, and Bayview Avenue for all eastbound Viva Purple buses.

• August 18, 2013 - Buses begin operating on the rapidway section on Highway 7 between Bayview Avenue and Highway 404.

• September 1, 2013 - The new Bayview vivastation opens with two new towers housing elevators and an enclosed staircase connecting between the vivastation on Highway 7 with the Bayview Avenue overpass. The temporary stop on High Tech Road at Bayview Avenue is closed and the detour via High Tech Road is eliminated with all service operating on Highway 7.

• August 24, 2014 - Viva Purple buses begin operating on the newly opened rapidway section between Highway 404 and Town Centre Boulevard.

• January 4, 2015 - Construction on the Richmond Hill/Markham Highway 7 rapidway is fully complete with the opening of the section between Town Centre Boulevard and Warden Avenue. Viva Purple buses operate on the Highway 7 rapidway between Bayview Avenue and Warden Avenue, then continue on the right-of-way south on Town Centre Boulevard, east parallel to Cedarland Drive, south parallel to Warden Avenue, and east parallel to Enterprise Boulevard to Birchmount Road.

• December 17, 2017 - With the opening of Line 1 subway extension to Vaughan, the short-turn service operating between York University and Richmond Hill Centre is replaced by an extension of Viva Orange. Viva Purple was extended to terminate at the new Pioneer Village Terminal. Service does not operate west of Richmond Hill Centre after 11pm on weekdays and all day on weekends. In addition, new stops were added on Highway 7 between Town Centre and Kennedy, with buses alternating between the Enterprise Boulevard and Highway 7 routing outside of rush hour. During rush hour, all Viva Purple buses used the Highway 7 routing, with Viva Pink serving the Enterprise Boulevard routing.

• April 29, 2018 - Service between the York University Campus and Pioneer Village Terminal is revised to operate via Ian Macdonald Boulevard and Northwest Gate, and no longer using Founders Road.

• September 2, 2018 - The western branch of the route between York University and Richmond Hill Centre was discontinued as the routing is identical to Viva Orange.

• September 5, 2021 - The Viva Purple branch serving Enterprise Boulevard is renamed "Purple A".

• September 4, 2022 - With the opening of the Cornell Terminal, the routing is adjusted to serve the terminal, operating as the new eastern terminus after buses serve Markham-Stouffville Hospital.

Vehicles

Viva Purple is primarily a 60ft route, and uses Nova Bus LFS Artic buses. Occasionally, Van Hool A330 buses may be used.

Route Maps

• 
  September 2018 - September 2022
• 
  December 2017 - September 2018
• 
  January 2008 - December 2017

Summary

Major Stops

	Major Stop	Branches		Connections	Notes
		Purple	Purple A
	Richmond Hill Centre Terminal	Purple	Purple A	- Viva Blue/Blue B - Viva Orange	Western terminus
Rapidway	Bayview	Purple	Purple A
	Chalmers	Purple	Purple A
	Valleymede	Purple	Purple A
	West Beaver Creek	Purple	Purple A
	Leslie	Purple	Purple A
	East Beaver Creek	Purple	Purple A
	Allstate Parkway	Purple	Purple A
	Woodbine	Purple	Purple A
	Montgomery	Purple	Purple A
	Town Centre	Purple	Purple A
	Cedarland		Purple A
	Warden/Enterprise		Purple A
	Andre De Grasse		Purple A
	University		Purple A
	Warden	Purple
	Village Parkway	Purple
	Sciberras	Purple
	Main Street Unionville	Purple
	Kennedy	Purple	Purple A
	Bullock	Purple	Purple A
	McCowan	Purple	Purple A
	Galsworthy	Purple	Purple A
	Main Street Markham	Purple	Purple A
	Wootten Way	Purple	Purple A
	Markham-Stouffville Hospital	Purple	Purple A
	Cornell Terminal	Purple	Purple A		Eastern terminus

Service Summary

Frequencies
Period		Branch	Weekdays					Saturday			Sunday
			AM Peak	Midday	PM Peak	Early Evening	Late Evening	Early AM	Day	Evening	Early AM	Day	Evening
2023	Jan-	Purple	22	26	23	38	42	36	36	36-50	36	36	36-50
2022		Purple
2021		Purple
2020		Purple
2019		Purple
2018		Purple
2017		Purple
2016		Purple
2015		Purple
2014		Purple
2013		Purple
2012		Purple
2011		Purple
2010		Purple
2009		Purple
2008		Purple
2007		Purple
2006		Purple
2005		Purple