This is suburban Toronto, Canada. Home to 1.6 million people,
the region is connected by a network of busways, which service 49 enhanced stops in five local
municipalities. In York Region, the network consists of 34 kilometres of median rapidways,
which service buses on the Viva rapid transit network. In Peel Region, the network consists of 18
kilometres of dedicated transitway, which service buses on the miExpress and GO Transit networks.
But how did the system grow from its original station to the network it is today?
My name’s Zach, and this is the Evolution of the Network.
The first segment of busway opened in March 2011, with a dedicated roadway on the
north side of Enterprise Boulevard in Markham. Starting from Birchmount Rd in the east,
the roadway ran 800 metres west to Warden, with a new enhanced station at the western end.
In August 2013, the first segment of the rapidway opened in the City of Richmond Hill,
running in the median of Highway 7 from from Chalmers to East Beaver Creek.
Five enhanced stations were serviced along the stretch, as well as a new enhanced
curbside station at Bayview. One year later in August 2014, the second segment extended
the rapidway east into the City of Markham, adding four enhanced to Town Centre Boulevard.
The Highway 7 East and Enterprise segments in Markham were linked together in January 2015,
along with the opening of a new station at Cedarland. This segment included a mix of
median running lanes and dedicated roadway, and runs along smaller roads between the two stations.
In November 2015, the first rapidway segment in the Town of Newmarket opened,
with three enhanced stations in the median of Davis Drive. This segment also provides a link
to the GO Train, with an on-street connection at Main to the Newmarket GO Station. In February 2017, two enhanced
stations were opened in the City of Vaughan, with median lanes servicing VIVA and local buses on Highway 7.
Local buses were removed from this segment in December 2017, with the rapidway
being extended west to a new stop at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station.
At the same time, Warden station in Markham was renamed to Warden/Enterprise,
as a new curbside station with the previous name opened elsewhere on the network.
Rapidway construction continued into September 2019, when a new segment
opening on Highway 7 west rapidway, along with a new enhanced station at Bathurst and Highway 7.
Along most of this segment, lanes run only in the eastbound direction,
with westbound buses continuing to operate in mixed traffic. In November 2019, the rapidway was
extended west of Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, with five new enhanced stations west to Wigwoss-Helen.
This segment also saw operations by Brampton Transit’s 501 Züm Queen route, which services
limited stops from the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre into downtown Brampton. Finally in January 2020,
four new enhanced rapidway stations opened from Bathurst and Highway 7 west to Dufferin Street,
with a short 750m gap in median lanes between Dufferin and Keele.
At the same time, a new section of enhanced lanes opened in Newmarket, with three new enhanced
stations between Davis Drive and Mulock. The final segement of rapidway opened in December 2020,
with seven new stations on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill. The first segment of median
lanes ran north from Richmond Hill Centre to Major Mackenzie, including four median stations. After a
brief 1200 metre break and a curbside stop, median lanes resumed between Elgin Mills and 19th-Gamble,
with three median stations. This brings us to the completed rapidway network that we know today.
In Mississauga, the first segment of transitway opened in November 2014, running from just east
of the City Centre Terminal to Dixie Station, servicing four enhanced stops. In September
2015, Erin Mills Station was opened in western Mississauga, with the standalone station being
serviced only by GO Transit. Bus bypass lanes along Highway 403 link Erin Mills with the
City Centre Terminal, with buses travelling in mixed traffic after leaving the highway.
In February 2016, two enhanced stations were opened, extending the transitway east from
Dixie to Etobicoke Creek. In September of that year, MiExpress buses began servicing Erin Mills,
following the same routing as GO Transit along the bus bypass lanes.
In January 2017, GO and MiWay service was extended west of Erin Mills to the new Winston Churchill
station, with a buses travelling on a short 1.5 kilometre stretch of dedicated roadway.
Sunday service was also added across the entire transitway at this time, which has previously
seen service only six days per week. In May 2017, two more enhanced stations
opened east of Etobicoke Creek, bringing the transitway to Spectrum and Orbitor stations.
In September 2017, GO Transit added service on the eastern segment, with buses using the
dedicated roadway from City Centre Terminal to Orbitor, stopping only at Dixie station.
The final station on the transitway opened in November 2017, with Renforth Station servicing
MiExpress and GO Transit routes. This brings us to the transitway network that we know today.
That was the evolution of Toronto’s suburban BRT networks, comprised of the Mississauga Transitway
and York Region’s VIVA Rapidway routes. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch our in-depth
videos on both of these projects, which you can access by clicking the button in the top right
corner. Don’t forget to leave a like if you enjoyed this video, and comment down below to
join in the discussion. My name’s Zach, and I’ll be Vanishing Underground, until the next one.