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Back to school with vivaNext

Drop by our booth at York University to learn how our plans will improve your quality of life.

Viva vehicles on the York University campus.
Viva vehicles on the York University campus.

The rapidways and subway extensions will make it faster and easier for people living and working in York Region to get around. This is especially true for current and future students, faculty and staff at York University. Within the next four years, new rapidway stops in dedicated lanes will be near the campus and within the next six years, two subway stops will be right on the campus. Construction will begin on both of these fully-funded projects within the year.

When complete, not only will you save time getting there, but you’ll save on parking. If you’ve already graduated, then these projects will make it faster and easier for you to get to work and connect with other places.

We will be on campus Sept. 16 for the Annual Clubs BBQ. On Sept. 17, we will be there, joined by all of the other public transit providers in the area plus cycling networks and car share companies, for the Transportation Fair.

Here is some more information about the events we’ll be at.

Annual Clubs BBQ

Date: Wednesday September 16 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Vanier Field

Transportation Fair

Date: Thursday September 17 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: York Lanes Mall

3 replies on “Back to school with vivaNext”

you didn’t answer a few of my questions:
are there plans of a mobile version of your website?
will the live tracking be possible on a cellphone/ mobile browser?
Why do the google transit Yrt times not reflect the sept updated transit times? How often is the google transit database updated? This service is pointless unless it’s database is synced with your current bus times. The sept 6th changes are still not present on google transit (2 weeks later)

Thx again

DaleA: Thank you for your enquiry about the current Viva service. As mentioned in the “About this blog” section, the purpose of this blog is to stimulate discussions, act as an e-town hall meeting, and provide you with a behind-the-scenes view of what goes into the planning, design, and construction of the next phase of Viva.

We politely ask that you redirect your enquiry to transitinfo@york.ca for a speedy and accurate response as they manage the day-to-day Viva/YRT service and operations. Thank you for your understanding.

I have heard that one of the new rules that would be in place when the subway opens on York U’s campus is that buses will no longer be permitted to enter the campus. I have also read that the Viva Purple route, which currently allows people to go from anywhere in Markham, Richmond Hill, and Vaughan to enter the campus without paying a double fare despite it being south of Steeles, will no longer go south along Keele to the campus, but will rather terminate at a subway stop on Highway 7. If this is the case, then wouldn’t this mean that riders will have to pay a double fare as they enter “TTC fare zone” (the subway)?

Could you please clarify if this is true, and if it is, how this would make getting to the campus any faster or more convenient? Most people drive to their destinations in Toronto from York Region because they want to avoid the double fare.

DaleA: Thanks for the good questions and letting us know what you’re hearing in the community.

The Harry W. Arthurs Common area in front of Vari Hall will be given back to pedestrians, making it an even more beautiful and welcoming environment. Once the subway extension opens, buses will no longer loop through this area to pick-up or drop-off passengers. While the York University Station will be located in this area, the bus terminal will be located at the north side of the campus at Steeles West Station. Click here to see the route map.

Regarding fares, nothing has been determined so it would be inappropriate to speculate. Discussions are ongoing with all transit service providers that will stop at the bus terminal, which will continue for quite some time as the subway extension gets built. Meanwhile, Metrolinx continues its work on the Presto card. To learn more about Presto, click here.

Thanks.

I just have a few things I would like to address:

a) What ever happened to WIFI On viva busses? Was this not a promised Feature?

b) Wasnt real time buss tracking promised by the end of summer?… Summer is now over. If this feature is in the works I hope it does not rely on flash software because almost all cellphone browsers can not use flash plugins (iphone included) This feature would be pointless if you couldn’t check where a buss is on ur iphone or other cellular device.

c) Has there been any talk of a YRT iphone app? Or at least a Mobile Version of your website, Almost every serious website has a mobile version, eg, tsn.ca. it would make alot of sense because1/2 the time people are checking buss times viva mobile phones and ur current site isnt that easy to navigate on a cell phone.

Thank you for your time in answering my questions.

DaleA:
a) This was going to be offered initially; however, due to the advancement of technology on wireless devices and limited cost options associated with this type of technology, YRT/Viva has no current plans to offer Wi-Fi service.

b) Real-time next bus information is being tested as we speak and will be available to the public in the middle of October 2009. Stay tuned for more information!

c) There are currently two applications developed by outside agencies for iPhone. YRT/Viva customers can get TransitBuddy and UniBus from the iPhone online store. These applications have our scheduling data.

Customers can also access our scheduling data from Google Trip Planner which is supported on any PDA platform.

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