YRT (York Region Transit) is conducting a community-wide travel survey to better understand travel needs and help plan for the future of public transit in Newmarket. Survey ends August 10.
Link to Survey: https://www.yrt.ca/NewmarketSurvey
It's nice to get another route to the system however there's some problems with it. The form they sent out to residents in the area is so bad it's not funny (To anyone who wants it: yrt.ca/Route11Survey).
The frequency needs to go. They are proposing the following:
Which is on par with the 25 Major Mackenzie. Since this route passes the 1 - Hwy 7, 300 - Business Express, 302 - Unionville Express, 40 - Unionville, 14 - Fourteenth Ave, 2 - Milliken, 4/25 - Major Mac, 16 - Sixteenth Ave, and 24 - Woodbine (including school specials), and a majority of neighborhoods and industrial complexes, there's no point running it so infrequently. If they are going to run this route, they have to make it fit seamlessly with the arterial routes to it. Ten to twelve minutes during Morning and Afternoon/Evening Rush Hour, twenty minutes mid day, twenty-five to thirty minutes (or more) at night seems reasonable. As reference, and depending on traffic, you can get from Rodick/Woodbine to Rodick/Esna in about ten to twenty-five minutes by car.
I would suggest the 11 to go alongside the 24 to Don Mills to ease pressure off the 24, though I don't think TTC would give up room while its infrequent 167 branch runs there. Rodick and Hwy 7 doesn't have a VIVA connection so the 1 - Hwy 7 would have to increase frequency for it to work okay (which is really needed).
Otherwise, it's alright. A few more bus stops would be nice. A stop through Fairburn Drive is debatable.
This is a great opportunity to let YRT know the transit service that Markham needs.
A full list of changes can be found here:
https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/resources/AnnualTransitPlanSummaryWeb_2027.pdf
Changes in Markham include a new Route 11 along Rodick, new Route 130D along Middlefield, routing change to Route 18, service improvement to VIVA Blue, Routes 4, 16, 17A, 24, 25, 90, 102D, and 129A.
Comment on the interactive map here:
https://engageyork.mysocialpinpoint.com/2027-transit-annual-plan
https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/resources/AnnualTransitPlanSummaryWeb_2027.pdf
It seems like YRT finally woke up and realized people take the bus on weekends. If even half of these proposals get approved by regional council, it would seriously be some good changes. Interesting to see that they are finally leveraging TTC contracts, giving ideas to push the 130 to Aaniin, finally all day Birchmount service (albeit 60 minute frequencies💀), and having the TTC run viva frequencies up McCowan. Other proposals include extending hours close to midnight on a few routes, giving midday and weekend service, increasing frequencies by 15+ minutes on routes, and overall these are some very solid proposals. What do you guys think?