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There was some form of rapid transit (most likely BRT) planned there as part of the Big Move, although I don't know if there were any studies done on that route. It's basic route was linking Markville Shopping Centre in the north to Scarborough Centre in the south, running along McCowan.
 
Here's another article with this lil nugget:

At Thursday’s meeting of regional council, the fare increase passed in a 16-3 vote with Vaughan regional Councillor Deb Schulte, Markham regional Councillor Joe Li and Markham deputy mayor Jack Heath voting against it.
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16-3! Excuse me while I throw up everywhere.
 
Pathetic. Whatever, here on these forums we can go on and on about how we think this will impact ridership or whatnot, but it doesn't matter because we're not the ones making these decisions.

Clearly not enough people made a loud enough ruckus to make them even consider the consequences. I've sat in on some council meetings and I'd be lying if I said that they give much thought to anything they vote on unless there's been loud public outcry in opposition (because suddenly their ass is on the line).
 
Also, I don't recall if this was posted before, but here is the 2014 YRT Plan: http://www.york.ca/NR/rdonlyres/6iv...2bttodtbfpzk6ss5o7xyme/sep+12+TSC+service.pdf

A few things of note...

1. They're basically gutting Route 40 - Unionville Local. It currently runs through an area north of 16th Ave with 2 Elementary schools, 1 High School, and a big plot of social housing. The new plan to merge 40 and 41 together removes that part of the service entirely. I understand that this is to serve the business area in the Centurian Dr area, but seriously, now the area north of 16th has gone from limited YRT service to no YRT service. This is also the same area where King's Square is being built (North America's largest Asian mall, anyone?).

2. Check out page 20. When the heck did this pop up? The 2017 Viva System plan shows a whole slew of new Viva routes, including one planned for 2014 up along Don Mills / Leslie and across Major Mackenzie to Yonge. Was I hiding under a rock this whole time?

EDIT:

3. I also did not know they were considering to run a version of Viva Purple across Highway 7 through Warden to Kennedy without dipping down into Enterprise Rd (Markham Centre). I'm feeling pretty ecstatic right now. They seem to be listening, if only from the Viva side of operations.

It's too bad they're getting as expensive as GO these days, though.
 
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The 2014 YRT plan and 2017 VIVA plan was posted a few pages back, but that doc really shows how YRT is choosing to abandon some of the areas of Markham. Let's hope it doesn't get much worse than this :(
 
xtremesniper said:
1. They're basically gutting Route 40 - Unionville Local. It currently runs through an area north of 16th Ave with 2 Elementary schools, 1 High School, and a big plot of social housing. The new plan to merge 40 and 41 together removes that part of the service entirely. I understand that this is to serve the business area in the Centurian Dr area, but seriously, now the area north of 16th has gone from limited YRT service to no YRT service. This is also the same area where King's Square is being built (North America's largest Asian mall, anyone?).
Click to expand...

I used to take the 41 from my high school to Markville. This plan would go to neither. I guess taking the 16 bus to McCowan and on down wouldn't be the end of the world, but man was that a convenient bus. I am kinda sad, even if that was like 8 years ago.

The Centurian Dr bit is good. I used to take either the Hwy 7 bus or VIVA to get off at Woodbine and walking through grass (no sidewalk!) and angry geese to get to my old office. On the other hand, it doesn't look like it'd be as fast from where I was coming from (9th Line).
 
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xtremesniper said:
Pathetic. Whatever, here on these forums we can go on and on about how we think this will impact ridership or whatnot, but it doesn't matter because we're not the ones making these decisions.

Clearly not enough people made a loud enough ruckus to make them even consider the consequences. I've sat in on some council meetings and I'd be lying if I said that they give much thought to anything they vote on unless there's been loud public outcry in opposition (because suddenly their ass is on the line).
Click to expand...

I think YRT itself is ultimately to blame for all this. The politicians are just doing what YRT wants. And that's probably the way it should be. YRT should know better.
 
Council presentation following approval of the fare increase: http://www.york.ca/NR/rdonlyres/lst...3vhollqjkl2zk7ia7o3vazcob/sep+12+TSC+fare.pdf

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30 cent increase in adult ticket price in one year is quite horrifying. Mississauga and Brampton only increase theirs by 10 cents max in one year, if they do it at all, and even that is too much.

Mississauga is increasing fares for post-secondary students by 20 cents soon, but that's after them being frozen so long (and other student fares stay the same). Adult fares are only going up 10 cents, and cash fares will stay the same. So cash fare in Mississauga will be 75 cents cheaper than York, and adult fare 50 cents cheaper. Even after the 20 cent increase in May, MT's post-secondary fare will still be a whopping 90 cents cheaper than York.
 
Ridership in August was only up 0.4% (4.0% YTD): http://www.york.ca/NR/rdonlyres/aur...zp4hlzhkwfzvyvsdkpzqa/oct+3+TSC+ridership.pdf

Some bright spots are VIVA purple (up 5.8% in month, 21.0% YTD) and pink (up 6.7% in month, 23.8% YTD). Given these routes both use the partial rapidway that's opened, let's hope this continues and strengthens when the rapidways are finished.

Otherwise, ridership seems to be booming in Newmarket and Aurora, holding steady in Markham, and falling everywhere else (aside from VIVA).
 
Well, you build a rapidway. That's nice. But then all the critics are going to have a field day when they don't see evidence of the service being used heavily enough to justify all that cost.

Raising the fare is going to seriously hurt the chances of Viva continuing to see growth in the coming years, rapidway or not. It's very difficult to tell anyone to pay $4.00 for a ride without them cringing at the thought.
 
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