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YRT service proposals for 2023:

Webpage: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/transit-initiatives.aspx
Overview Presentation: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/resources/2023-Transit-Initiatives_FINAL.pdf

I'll post the entire slides for the more interesting changes:
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1653589781123.png


Other changes:
Frequency improvements
- 25 Major Mack East: rush hour frequency increased from 32-34 mins to 26-27 mins
- 50 Queensway: midday frequency increased from 39 mins to 33 mins
- 85 Rutherford: rush hour frequency increased from 18-19 mins to 15-16 mins
- Vague "improve frequency where needed" and "Evaluate reintroducing suspended routes" for all Viva routes
Service reductions:
- 26 Maple reduced to rush hour only (previously half was Mon-Fri, and the other half was rush hour only)
- 107/107B Keele: buses replaced with articulated buses, rush hour frequency reduced from 11 to 18 minutes
Service reinstatements:
- 10 Woodbridge reinstated with modifed route to be more direct
Other:
- 33A Wellington cancelled, service moved to main 33 branch


Commentary:
- 105 Dufferin - Overall great. The huge one way loop that existed previously was terrible and having no weekend service north of Rutherford made no sense. Extension to Maple GO also makes lots of sense, since the end of the route is already really close. The frequency improvement is also good to see, but is still too low, especially on the branched part where the frequency gets cut in half.
- 165 and 21 - Overall bad. The 21 is proposed to get a ridiculously large one-way loop to replace the 165F which is proposed to be cancelled. IMO this is completely the opposite of what should happen - I think the 21 should be cancelled and replaced by branch(es) of the 165. Through service to the subway is very valuable here, not just for a one-seat ride to the subway but also to reduce the number of transfers to other routes in general. The 21 is like if TTC operated a route going in circles around Finch/Morningside and then just dumping everybody at Agincourt Mall and making people transfer to the 85. Obviously, the TTC does not operate such a route and instead all service in this area through runs onto an arterial route to the subway.
- 20E: Seems strange to introduce an express service on Jane instead of the VIVA service that has been proposed forever. The 20 also serves no less than 5 bus terminals over the 10km route, which is frankly ridiculous, and the new 20E will continue to serve all terminals along its route, which will inevitably make it really slow. The new bus terminal in front of the Vaughan hospital was a giant mistake and the 20 really should really skip either VMC or 407 station.
- 24: What are they thinking??? This is so stupid. Extending the 24 through farm fields to the middle of nowhere to serve a peak hour, peak direction only GO station. Gormley is also the second last station (and the last station is Bloomington which is totally useless) so the only reason anyone would want to go to Gormley at all would be to go south. Who is going to ride the 24 north to Gormley, just to go back south on GO?
 
YRT service proposals for 2023:

Webpage: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/transit-initiatives.aspx
Overview Presentation: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/resources/2023-Transit-Initiatives_FINAL.pdf

I'll post the entire slides for the more interesting changes:
View attachment 402643
View attachment 402645View attachment 402647
View attachment 402653
View attachment 402654

Other changes:
Frequency improvements
- 25 Major Mack East: rush hour frequency increased from 32-34 mins to 26-27 mins
- 50 Queensway: midday frequency increased from 39 mins to 33 mins
- 85 Rutherford: rush hour frequency increased from 18-19 mins to 15-16 mins
- Vague "improve frequency where needed" and "Evaluate reintroducing suspended routes" for all Viva routes
Service reductions:
- 26 Maple reduced to rush hour only (previously half was Mon-Fri, and the other half was rush hour only)
- 107/107B Keele: buses replaced with articulated buses, rush hour frequency reduced from 11 to 18 minutes
Service reinstatements:
- 10 Woodbridge reinstated with modifed route to be more direct
Other:
- 33A Wellington cancelled, service moved to main 33 branch


Commentary:
- 105 Dufferin - Overall great. The huge one way loop that existed previously was terrible and having no weekend service north of Rutherford made no sense. Extension to Maple GO also makes lots of sense, since the end of the route is already really close. The frequency improvement is also good to see, but is still too low, especially on the branched part where the frequency gets cut in half.
- 165 and 21 - Overall bad. The 21 is proposed to get a ridiculously large one-way loop to replace the 165F which is proposed to be cancelled. IMO this is completely the opposite of what should happen - I think the 21 should be cancelled and replaced by branch(es) of the 165. Through service to the subway is very valuable here, not just for a one-seat ride to the subway but also to reduce the number of transfers to other routes in general. The 21 is like if TTC operated a route going in circles around Finch/Morningside and then just dumping everybody at Agincourt Mall and making people transfer to the 85. Obviously, the TTC does not operate such a route and instead all service in this area through runs onto an arterial route to the subway.
- 20E: Seems strange to introduce an express service on Jane instead of the VIVA service that has been proposed forever. The 20 also serves no less than 5 bus terminals over the 10km route, which is frankly ridiculous, and the new 20E will continue to serve all terminals along its route, which will inevitably make it really slow. The new bus terminal in front of the Vaughan hospital was a giant mistake and the 20 really should really skip either VMC or 407 station.
- 24: What are they thinking??? This is so stupid. Extending the 24 through farm fields to the middle of nowhere to serve a peak hour, peak direction only GO station. Gormley is also the second last station (and the last station is Bloomington which is totally useless) so the only reason anyone would want to go to Gormley at all would be to go south. Who is going to ride the 24 north to Gormley, just to go back south on GO?

The allergy to clock-face service at YRT continues to baffle, I would truly prefer 30m service to 29m service, so that w/o thought I know when the bus will be at the stop.

Overall, the frequencies remain anemic they aren't really even moving materially to 15M at rush hour; in fact, they have Keele going backwards from 11M to 18M......utterly unfathomable, and objectionable.
 
Commentary:
- 105 Dufferin - Overall great. The huge one way loop that existed previously was terrible and having no weekend service north of Rutherford made no sense. Extension to Maple GO also makes lots of sense, since the end of the route is already really close. The frequency improvement is also good to see, but is still too low, especially on the branched part where the frequency gets cut in half.
- 165 and 21 - Overall bad. The 21 is proposed to get a ridiculously large one-way loop to replace the 165F which is proposed to be cancelled. IMO this is completely the opposite of what should happen - I think the 21 should be cancelled and replaced by branch(es) of the 165. Through service to the subway is very valuable here, not just for a one-seat ride to the subway but also to reduce the number of transfers to other routes in general. The 21 is like if TTC operated a route going in circles around Finch/Morningside and then just dumping everybody at Agincourt Mall and making people transfer to the 85. Obviously, the TTC does not operate such a route and instead all service in this area through runs onto an arterial route to the subway.
- 20E: Seems strange to introduce an express service on Jane instead of the VIVA service that has been proposed forever. The 20 also serves no less than 5 bus terminals over the 10km route, which is frankly ridiculous, and the new 20E will continue to serve all terminals along its route, which will inevitably make it really slow. The new bus terminal in front of the Vaughan hospital was a giant mistake and the 20 really should really skip either VMC or 407 station.
- 24: What are they thinking??? This is so stupid. Extending the 24 through farm fields to the middle of nowhere to serve a peak hour, peak direction only GO station. Gormley is also the second last station (and the last station is Bloomington which is totally useless) so the only reason anyone would want to go to Gormley at all would be to go south. Who is going to ride the 24 north to Gormley, just to go back south on GO?
Theyre probably not quite there yet to justify a full conversion to viva. Even if it was the case you would still need to sink a lot of capital for new stations and fare machines. 20E is probably stop gap measure until they are ready to proceed.
 
YRT service proposals for 2023:

Webpage: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/transit-initiatives.aspx
Overview Presentation: https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/resources/2023-Transit-Initiatives_FINAL.pdf

View attachment 402653
View attachment 402654

- 20E: Seems strange to introduce an express service on Jane instead of the VIVA service that has been proposed forever. The 20 also serves no less than 5 bus terminals over the 10km route, which is frankly ridiculous, and the new 20E will continue to serve all terminals along its route, which will inevitably make it really slow. The new bus terminal in front of the Vaughan hospital was a giant mistake and the 20 really should really skip either VMC or 407 station.
- 24: What are they thinking??? This is so stupid. Extending the 24 through farm fields to the middle of nowhere to serve a peak hour, peak direction only GO station. Gormley is also the second last station (and the last station is Bloomington which is totally useless) so the only reason anyone would want to go to Gormley at all would be to go south. Who is going to ride the 24 north to Gormley, just to go back south on GO?

20E would probably be more useful to 407 Station than it would be to Pioneer Village or VMC as it services regional buses/northland buses and of course the subway itself so it holds way more opportunities for connections all around. Originate the trip at 407, then run to Highway 7 to somewhat serve the VMC busway stop, then run non stop express to Vaughan Mills, and then from there to the Major Mack terminal would be the ideal route to aim for for efficiency and a decent enough experience.

As for the 24, they should’ve considered running it further to either Yonge or Ninth Line on Stouffville Road if this extension was their primary goal in the first place. Maybe they were just going for the nearest bus loop in this area, but even then choosing Gormley to service it all day is a really confusing choice. Unless if there are plans to have GO provide actual proper 2 way all day bus service when the trains aren’t running which is ridiculous to even say that they never did. This would only be useful to anyone living on at least on Major Mack’s border at best and wanting a GO station option to head to the city, which even then leaves us with rush hour or midday options only because of the RH line’s poor service in general.
 
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I'm glad to see they're getting rid of the one-way looping at the north end of the 105 Dufferin. As it stands now, that portion of the route doesn't serve anyone well, because if you're close to a stop in one direction, the stop in the other direction is a kilometre away. Riding all the way around the 7km loop is not a practical option either.

However, splitting the service into two branches results in appalling frequency for everyone. Weekday midday service will be every 48 minutes, and evening service will be every 70 minutes. When I was a regular YRT user (around 2010-2015), those kinds of numbers were only found on rural routes. Not on a trunk route serving fairly dense subdivisions near GO stations. So while they're resolving the current main problem with the route, they're creating a new problem which is just as bad. This is especially a problem for transfers from Rutherford buses to Dufferin buses, because you won't know where to get off for the next Dufferin bus: Dufferin Street or Peter Rupert. And if you guess wrong, you're in for a looooong wait. Personally I would have consolidated all service onto the western branch (proposed route 105B) since it's far more densly populated than the eastern branch. It also comes within walking distance (500 m) of Rutherford station. Or as a compromise, they could make the other branch rush-hour only.

It's great that they're extending the route to Maple GO station - that's currently a glaring missing link in that part of the YRT network.

The allergy to clock-face service at YRT continues to baffle, I would truly prefer 30m service to 29m service, so that w/o thought I know when the bus will be at the stop.

Overall, the frequencies remain anemic they aren't really even moving materially to 15M at rush hour; in fact, they have Keele going backwards from 11M to 18M......utterly unfathomable, and objectionable.
To make matters worse, GO almost entirely uses clockface schedules outside of rush hour, which means that YRT never properly connects to GO. For example, the proposed weekend service on Route 105 is every 28 minutes - if it were every 30 minutes, it could be timed to meet the hourly GO trains at Maple.
 
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