York Region Transit route 88 'Bathurst'

88 Bathurst is a base route operated by YRT in King, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Toronto, ON.

Basic
Route 88 serves mainly Bathurst St. between Bloomington Rd./15th Sdrd. and Steeles Ave.

This route has 1 branch:
 * 88 Seneca King - Finch Terminal

Route 88 serves the Oak Ridges, Inspiration, Mill Pond, Thornhill Woods, and Thornhill communities. They also serve St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School, Lebovic Leisure Centre, Westmount Collegiate Institute, Vaughan City Playhouse, Promenade Terminal, and Centerpoint Mall.

Route 88 connects to Viva Purple at Atkinson Ave. and Promenade Terminal. It also connects to Viva Blue and Viva Pink during peak periods at Yonge/Steeles and Finch Station.

History
Service among Bathurst St. first operated in the form of Richmond Hill Transit route 8. It ran from Promenade Terminal to Bernard Terminal via Elgin Mills. When YRT took over operations from Richmond Hill Transit, it renumbered it to route 88 and extended it north to Seneca King during peak periods to serve the student demand. In 2003, it was extended southwards to Finch Station via Bathurst, Steeles and Yonge. Some peak trips were rerouted via Clark and Hilda Ave. to Steeles a year later. January 2005 saw the addition of full weekday service to Seneca King. In September of that year, route 23 was introduced, replacing service on Hilda Ave.

On November 16, 2008, route 88E was introduced, following the same routing as route 88 with limited stops at Elgin Mills, Major Mackenzie, Rutherford/Carrville, Promenade Terminal, Steeles, and Yonge.

On September 6, 2009, route 88A was introduced, operating between Finch Station and Elgin West Community Centre located at Bathurst and Shaftsbury. Despite the introduction, this branch has been in service since 2003, though simply only known as route 88. Route 88A was discontinued on June 26, 2016, as Sunday service on route 88 was extended to Seneca, This branch only operated during Sundays and Holidays.

Route 88E was declared fully accessible in February 2012. Routes 88 and 88A was declared fully accessible in December 2012.

Route 88E was discontinued on February 24, 2014, and all the limited stop trips were converted to regular route 88 trips.

Vehicles
Route 88 is primarily a 40ft route, and uses New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR. Occasionally Van Hool A330 or New Flyer XD40 may provide service.

Major Stops

 * Seneca King: Northern terminus for route 88. Connections to routes 22, 32..
 * Elgin Mills Rd.: Connections to routes 80, 83, 240.
 * Carrville Rd.: Connections to routes 16, 23, 85/85C.
 * Promenade Terminal: Serves Bay 2 southbound and Bay 4 northbound. Connections to Viva Purple and routes 23, 77, 160.
 * Steeles Ave.
 * Finch Terminal: Southern terminus. Serves Bay 15. Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 2, 5, 23, 77/77A, 91/91A/91E, 98E, 99, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 760.