With the
introduction of any new transit service, some riders may in fact
experience a more inconvenient commute. This fall, an enhanced bus
network called Viva is being phased in as a faster alternative to
existing York Region Transit (YRT) buses. Mary Lou Giernot of Aurora
faces a challenge when Viva expands its Yonge Street service from
Finch subway station to Newmarket on November 20.
She writes, “I
have used the GO bus (along Yonge Street) for 19 years. With Viva
starting in late November, we GO riders have found out the GO bus
will only travel south to York Mills from 6 to 8 a.m. and then 3 to
6 p.m. northbound. Any other time we have to use Viva.
“I work in
Mississauga and must be in a bus earlier than 6:00 a.m.” Her commute
will take longer, and on the trip home she gets a ride to York Mills
station, but not until 6:30 p.m. “So I now have to pay a TTC fare to
Finch station to get a Viva.
“In Aurora ...
there are very few Viva stops compared to GO stops. The one that I
use is only serviced by GO, so I must walk an extra long block to
get Viva.
While Viva
boasts much softer seats than any TTC vehicle, Giernot says, “GO
seats are very comfortable, they are made for long rides, and they
are also adjustable.”
GO Transit’s
Gary McNeil confirms the agency used to transport 12,000 people a
day in the Yonge Street corridor, and since service was transferred
to York Region, GO now carries 3,000 riders daily.
Should GO have
waited to see what demand was like outside rush hour, before
curtailing service starting November 20? He replies, “We’ve already
made the decision, though, that we need to put those buses
elsewhere. Because there will be more than enough capacity in the
shoulders and the off-peak periods on Viva, running our buses in
that time period would really be an inefficient use of a resource.”
He says if
ridership on Yonge stays high, GO will add service, and further, “If
the demand stayed up high in the edges of the peak, we would put
more buses on.”
Both McNeil and
Viva’s Mary-Frances Turner suggest the reader double-check her
options. Viva buses will start running southbound from Newmarket
before 6 a.m. Suburban riders across greater Toronto should
investigate whether GO’s improved inter-regional bus services can
give them a better route to work. Try
www.findtheway.ca for all GTA
transit agencies.
Does the new
York Region network compete with GO? Viva’s Turner says, “What we’ve
got is GO doing the long haul movements,
Viva doing the
more rapid movements, and YRT doing the continuous local service. So
there’s a whole new level of service in the corridor.” She says
projections show with the introduction of Viva, along with GO
express and local YRT bus service, transit ridership across York
Region will grow.