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I rode Orange for the very first time yesterday, transferring off a route 77 at Martin Grove. The loads are poor, but not horrible.

The extension to Brampton will occur only when Brampton introduces Acceleride next year on Queen. I'm not sure yet if Brampton will take over Viva Orange or if it will be a joint run like the 77 is now.
 
My dreams and prayers would be answered if I could just be living in this area long enough to see some sort of Viva route along 16th Avenue. The sheer potential for ridership along this street is staggering, but I don't think YRT seems to see that.

And I always get upset when I read about people talking about Viva's "low" ridership. I ride the Viva every day (on two routes, Blue and Purple) and I can tell you, there is no shortage of ridership on weekdays.

Maybe if you don't use the system you can make silly guesses on ridership by taking a glance at how packed a bus is from the outside, but what you wouldn't know then is the fact that if you are seeing a fairly empty Viva bus riding past in what should be a busy time of day, it's because YRT inserted a new empty bus in-between buses to act as a shuttle bus that will go out of service at the end of the line to ease congestion.

Try taking the Purple from Richmond Hill Center during morning rush hour. They have empty buses waiting on standby to swoop by and shuttle people to York, and then they go out of service and come back to wait again.
 
I read somewhere that Major Mac will be the next Viva line. When this might happen I don't know. There are a number of trip generators along this route: the 400, Wonderland, Maple GO station, York Central Hospital, Yonge St. Viva, Richmond Hill GO station and the 404. That said, I have no personal experience with this area, so I don't know if the numbers justify such a route.

FWIW,
TOS
 
Does anyone know the approximate cost per kilometre of Viva BRT dedicated lanes? Would it be possible for such a cost to be born by the region instead of the province? I recognize that this would require new taxes and as such is politically unlikely, but the ability to speed up the construction of dedicated BRT lanes by bypassing the province has appeal.

TOS
 
Railization said:
Warden Ave. is targetted for LRT by Markham's Transportation Master Plan. Whether this would be VIVA or TTC service is not known at this time. It also is not known whether such a service would go south of Sheppard Ave. or terminate at STC or DM Stn.
Click to expand...

Why Warden? That's about as dull as any suburban arterial can be.

My fantasy has the TTC's Don Mills LRT extended through the new Downtown Markham, and from there up through Main Street Unionville.
 
kettal said:
My fantasy has the TTC's Don Mills LRT extended through the new Downtown Markham, and from there up through Main Street Unionville.
Click to expand...
If your going to fantasize, extend the DRL Subway from Don Mills and Eglinton, up Don Mills to Markham!
 
My fantasy has the TTC's Don Mills LRT extended through the new Downtown Markham, and from there up through Main Street Unionville.
Click to expand...

How would the Don Mills LRT get to Downtown Markham (at Warden)? I like the current idea of extending the Don Mills LRT up to Leslie/7 area.
 
I can see an LRT line on Woodbine... but I can see why Warden might work too, as it cuts through an industrial/commercial area just south of 14th, will pass by Downtown Markham by its border, and it would also be right by Markham Theatre and the town hall.
 
For a Warden Viva line, that's kinda Viva green right there. I know after more development of Markham Town Centre Viva Green will be all day service again, but it'd be useful to extend it up to Major Mac or maybe even further later (assuming the area north on Warden isn't cut off by the Greenbelt. I don't think it is, is it?)

A 16th and 14th avenue Viva route would be pretty useful, but those are both 1 concession away from Viva Purple. However, I do know Metrolinx has in it's 25 year plan for another BRT route on Major Mackenzie and Rapid Transit on Steeles.

...Now I'm thinking about a Viva Blue and Purple subway. Blue, I could see in a couple of years when Richmond Hill, Aurora and Newmarket densify a bit more. Purple would have it's uses, especially after Vaughn City Centre and Markham Town Centre get built more. If things continue like they are, unfortunately a Blue and Purple subway will probably get built before an Eglinton Subway :(
 
My fantasy has the TTC's Don Mills LRT extended through the new Downtown Markham, and from there up through Main Street Unionville.
Click to expand...

I'm skeptical about running the LRT through Main Street Unionville, but that's ok. Will Main Street turn into a streetcar mall?
 
It can be mixed traffic just like in the good ol days. I'd imagine the BIA would love it, it fits in with the area's character.
 
Well Main Street Unionville shouldn't even be accessible by cars in the first place. There's a perfectly fine road that travels parallel to it in the back where the parking lots are just about 30+ meters away. The main street should be a pedestrian only street just like it is during festivals. It's ridiculous. Soo no, I wouldn't see LRT going through there. Maybe passing by near it. But not through it.
 
tapper of spines said:
Does anyone know the approximate cost per kilometre of Viva BRT dedicated lanes?

TOS
Click to expand...

The province just gave them $1.4 billion to do 67 km of BRT, I believe.
Math ain't my specialty but I guess that's about $20 million/km?

And they'll never run an LRT down Main Street Unionville but there is the rail corridor which runs just west of it. No idea if that could somehow be used to get transit into that core, if someone wanted to...
 
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