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 a dedicated right-of-way, dubbed the Highway 7 Rapidway, in Markham and Richmond Hill. It is operated by Tok Transit under contract from York Region.

Viva Purple
Overview
System	YRT/Viva
Operator	Tok Transit
Vehicle	Van Hool A330 Van Hool AG300 Nova Bus LF Series (articulated)
Began service	September 4, 2005
Route
Route type	Bus rapid transit
Locale	York Region
Communities served	Richmond Hill; Markham
Start	Richmond Hill Centre Terminal
Via	Highway 7
End	Cornell Terminal
Length	18.2 kilometres (11.3 mi)
Stops	27
Service
Frequency	15 mins
Ridership	5,705 (2016)[1]
Route map Legend Highway 7 Bur Oak Ave Markham Stouffville Hospital Cornell Terminal Ninth Line Church St Wootten Way Wootten Way (N/S) Wootten Way Main Street Markham Markham Rd Main Street Markham Galsworthy ←Galsworthy Dr Grandview Blvd→ McCowan McCowan Rd McCowan Bullock Dr Bullock South Unionville Ave Helen Ave Kenedy Kenedy Rd Kenedy Main St. Unionville Main St. Unionville University YMCA Blvd Stouffville line Sciberras Andre de Grasse Village Parkway Andre de Grasse St ←Village Pkwy Birchmount Rd→ Enterprise Blvd Village Parkway Warden/Enterprise Warden/Highway 7 Warden Ave Cedarland Warden/Highway 7 Cedarland Dr (S) Town Centre Blvd Town Centre Montgomery ←Montgomery Ct Fairburn Dr→ Montgomery Woodbine Ave Woodbine Allstate Pkwy ←Allstate Pkwy E Valhalla Dr→  Highway 404 East Beaver Creek ←East Beaver Creek Rd Commerce Valley Dr E→ East Beaver Creek Leslie Leslie St Leslie West Beaver Creek ←West Beaver Creek Rd Commerce Valley Dr W→ West Beaver Creek Valleymede ←Valleymede Dr TImes Ave→ Valleymede Chalmers ←Chalmers Rd South Park Rd→ Chalmers Bayview Bayview Ave Langstaff GO Richmond Hill line Richmond Hill Centre Yonge St  407 ETR Highway 7 Legends Rapidway Mixed traffic This diagram: view talk edit ← {{{previous_line}}}  {{{system_nav}}}  {{{next_line}}} →

Route description

A Viva Purple bus stops at the Richmond Hill Centre Terminal.

Viva Purple operates along Highway 7 from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal (at Yonge Street) in the west, to Cornell Terminal (east of Ninth Line) in the east.

Viva Purple also operates an 'A' branch along Enterprise Boulevard (serving Downtown Markham) between Town Centre Boulevard and Kennedy Road. Alternating buses serve this branch and the Highway 7 base route except during weekday rush hour.

Viva Purple connects with all other Viva lines except Viva Yellow. Currently, there are 27 stops (dubbed Vivastations) along the route.^[2]

Viva Purple stops
Name	Opening date	Municipality	Major connections
Richmond Hill Centre	September 4, 2005	Richmond Hill	Langstaff GO Station
Bayview		Markham/ Richmond Hill
Chalmers	August 19, 2013
Valleymede	September 4, 2005
West Beaver Creek
Leslie
East Beaver Creek
Allstate Parkway		Markham
Woodbine
Montgomery
Town Centre
Warden[B]	December 17, 2017
Village Parkway[B]
Sciberras[B]
Main Street Unionville[B]	September 1, 2019
Cedarland[A]	December 28, 2014
Warden/Enterprise[A]	November 20, 2005
Andre De Grasse[A]	February 5, 2017
University Boulevard[A]	November 20, 2005
Kennedy/Highway 7	October 16, 2005
Bullock
McCowan
Galsworthy	September 5, 2010
Main Street Markham	January 27, 2008
Wootten Way
Markham Stouffville Hospital[E]
Cornell Terminal	September 4, 2022[3]		52   56

Notes

^[A] Stop served by 'A' branch (via Enterprise Blvd.) only

^[B] Stop served by base route (via Highway 7) only

^[E] Eastbound only

Route history

Viva Purple has seen considerable changes since it began service on September 4, 2005:

It originally ran from York University in Toronto, via the City of Vaughan , to Town Centre Boulevard. It was extended east to McCowan Road on October 16, 2005. Rush hour service was extended west of York University to Martin Grove Road beginning November 20 of that year. On September 2, 2007, the peak service west of York University was discontinued as the overlapping service with Viva Orange turned out to be excessive. The route was extended east of McCowan Road to Markham Stouffville Hospital on January 27, 2008.

On December 17, 2017, the route was given a Toronto subway connection at York University when the namesake York University Station opened upon completion of the northward extension of the western branch of Line 1 Yonge–University.^[4] The branch along Highway 7 (bypassing the Downtown Markham routing via Enterprise Boulevard) was also established at this time.

On September 2, 2018, service to York University and the subway was discontinued when Viva Purple was cut back again to Richmond Hill Centre Terminal.

On September 5, 2021, the original route (along Enterprise Boulevard) was designated as the 'A' branch (Viva Purple 'A'), and the later branch (along Highway 7) was designated as the base route. On September 4, 2022, the eastern terminus was extended to the new Cornell Terminal.^[3]

Rapidway

Main article: Highway 7 Rapidway

The Viva Purple line follows the aforementioned Highway 7 Rapidway dedicated right-of-way for most of its route. Eventually, the entire Highway 7 Corridor could be upgraded to light rail transit.^[5]