York Region Transit route 'Viva Purple'

Viva Purple is a Viva base route operated by YRT in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham, ON.

Basic
Viva Purple serves mainly Highway 7, Centre St., and Enterprise Blvd.

This route has 2 main branches:
 * Viva Purple York University - Markham-Stouffville Hospital
 * Viva Purple York University - Richmond Hill Centre Terminal (weekdays between September and April)

Viva Purple serves the Vaughan, Concord, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Unionville, Markham, and Cornell communities. It also serves Promenade Terminal, Vaughan City Playhouse, Beaver Creek Business Park, Seneca College Markham Campus, First Markham Place, Flato Markham Theatre, Markham Civic Centre, Downtown Markham, Markville Mall, and Main Street Markham.

Viva Purple runs alongside Viva Pink between Richmond Hill Centre and Enterprise and Viva Green between Warden and McCowan, all during rush hour. It also connects to Viva Orange at York University and Viva Blue at Richmond Hill Centre.

History
Viva Purple first started operating on September 4, 2005, as part of Viva phase 1. It initially operated east to Town Centre. It was extended to McCowan on October 16 as part of Viva phase 2, and Martin Grove during rush hours on November 21 as part of Viva phase 3. Service initially operated between Town Centre and Kennedy via Highway 407 and Unionville GO Station during Viva phase 2 due to construction of Enterprise Blvd. not being complete.

Viva Purple was to be extended to the planned Cornell Terminal, however residents objected its construction, and the due date of the extension (January 2006, Viva phase 4) passed.

In September 2007, Viva Purple became the 2nd Viva route to have a scheduled short-turn. Extra buses ran between York University and Richmond Hill Centre to address overcrowding. Also, service to Martin Grove was discontinued, and all westbound trips now end at York University. In 2007, Viva Purple was officially assigned route 603. This number was only seen by the public for a short time before being removed, although this number is used on Google Maps' transit routing for the route.

January 2008 brought the long-delayed extension to Markham-Stouffville Hospital. Since hospital staff would not allow the frequent service Viva would bring into the hospital grounds, a temporary shelter was built on Church St. When Cornell Terminal opens, Viva buses will be rerouted into that terminal instead.

On February 12, 2012, to accommodate vivaNext construction, the eastbound Bayview vivastation was moved to High Tech Rd. just west of Bayview Ave., resulting in a route detour along Yonge St., High Tech Rd., and Bayview Ave. for all eastbound Viva Purple buses. Ironically, Viva Purple now takes longer than route 1 from Richmond Hill Centre to Markham-Stouffville Hospital.

Viva Purple began to use the rapidways on Highway 7 East between Bayview Avenue and Highway 404 on August 18, 2013, and between Highway 404 and Town Centre Blvd. on August 24, 2014. The section between Town Centre Blvd. and Warden Avenue is scheduled to open in December 2014.

The Rapid Transit Network Plan will modify Viva Purple in Downtown Markham in 2015 by alternating trips on Highway 7 and Enterprise Blvd. between Town Centre Blvd. and Kennedy Road during off-peak periods. All Viva Purple trips will operate via Highway 7 between the two stops during peak periods. The Spadina Subway Transit Strategy will modify Viva Purple's routing in 2016, as service will only operate as far west as Richmond Hill Centre Terminal. Service west of Richmond Hill Centre will be replaced by an extension of Viva Orange and a new route 101.

Vehicles
Viva Purple uses both 40ft Van Hool A330 and 60ft Van Hool AG300 and Nova Bus LFX/LFS Artic on weekdays. On weekends it is primarily a 40ft route.