Viva Purple


Viva Purple is a line on the Viva bus rapid transit system in York Region, Ontario, Canada. The route primarily runs in an east–west direction along the Highway 7 Rapidway in Markham and Richmond Hill. It is operated by Tok Transit under contract from York Region.

Route description

Viva Purple operates along Highway 7 from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal in the west, to Markham Stouffville Hospital in the east.
Viva Purple also operates a branch service along Enterprise Boulevard between Town Centre Boulevard and Kennedy Road. Alternating buses serve this branch except during weekday rush hour.
Viva Purple connects with all other Viva lines except Viva Yellow and Viva Blue A. Currently, there are 25 stations along the bus route.

Route history

Service from York University to Town Centre Boulevard began on September 4, 2005. Service extending from Town Centre Boulevard east to McCowan Road began October 16, 2005. Peak-time service west of York University began November 20, 2005. Service east of McCowan Road to Markham Stouffville Hospital was to begin on July 1, 2007, but was postponed to January 27, 2008. Service east of McCowan Road to Cornell will replace the aforementioned service. Service west of York University was discontinued as of September 2, 2007.
On September 2, 2018, Viva Purple was restructured to terminate at Richmond Hill Centre. Previously, the route extended west to and stations where it connected with the Line 1 Yonge–University subway.

Future

The eastern terminus is planned to extend to the future Cornell Terminal upon completion in 2019 with an additional stop at Bur Oak.

Rapidway

The Viva Purple line has a dedicated right of way for a portion of the route. Eventually, the entire Highway 7 Corridor could be upgraded to light rail transit.