NEWMARKET
- The Viva Web site is in the running for a Canadian New Media Award. It is one
of three finalists in the category, “Excellence in Culture, Lifestyle and
Arts”. These national awards were established five years ago to honour those in
the new media industry for creativity, innovative design and implementation of
interactive digital technologies.
According to the description on the awards Web site, “Viva
York uses multimedia, flash and web technology to create an online experience
that extends the brand, clearly communicates transit in a positive, tech savvy
manner and overall communicates value beyond the graphical layout of the
website… Subtle text effects and motion graphics make the user experience fun
and captivating.”
The Viva Web site was developed by the Toronto-based company
Indusblue Inc. On January 17, 2005 “Favourite Web site Awards (FWA)” named Viva
the Web site of the day. Viva received this prestigious honour after being
selected from hundreds of entries around the globe.
“We set out to create a transit Web site that would
captivate people and draw them back again and again, and we even surpassed our
own expectations,” said Dayton Pereira, Co-founder and Creative Director of
Indusblue. “This attention is especially gratifying because our work is being
recognized by experts and colleagues throughout the industry.”
The Canadian New Media Awards will be handed out on Monday
May 30th in Toronto.
This year’s selection committee is composed of over 100 industry professionals
and leaders from post secondary institutions like the University
of Alberta in Edmonton,
Mohawk College
in Hamilton and Sheridan
College in Oakville.
The Viva rapid transit system is designed with passengers in
mind, offering a service that’s frequent, flexible and comfortable. Rapid
transit vehicles will arrive every five to 10 minutes during peak periods. Viva
stations will be bright and safe with a uniquely modern look.
There will be fare vending machines allowing passengers to
purchase tickets quickly and easily before boarding. When passengers get their
tickets, they will have up to two hours to get on and off Viva to go to the
drug store or the grocery store, without having to pay an additional fare.
There will also be real time information in the stations telling passengers
when the next Viva vehicle will arrive.
Viva will link the Region’s urban centres of Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Aurora and Newmarket along four
major corridors, including Highway 7 and Yonge Street. In addition, Viva will link
York Region with the City of Toronto
and its subway system, to GO Transit, and to the transit systems in the Region
of Peel and eventually into Durham Region.
Viva begins operating in September and will implemented in
stages. When the first phase is fully implemented in 2006, York Region
estimates these initial improvements will lead to a 30 per cent increase in
transit ridership – moving 7,000 car trips a day off the major arterial roads.
For more information on Viva, to visit the Local Leaders’
Gallery or to learn about the Viva Challenge, please visit the Viva Web site
at: www.vivayork.com. To-date more than 60,000 people have visited the Viva Web
site with just under one million hits.
For more information on the Regional Municipality of York,
the services offered and links to the nine area municipalities, please visit
the York Region Web site at: www.york.ca