York Region Transit route 8 'Kennedy'

8 Kennedy is a base route operated by YRT in Markham, ON.

Basic
Route 8 mainly serves Kennedy Road between Steeles Ave. and Major Mackenzie Dr.

This route has 1 branch:
 * 8 Steeles Ave - Major Mackenzie

This route serves the Milliken, Unionville, and Berczy communities. It also serves Pacific Mall, Denison Centre, Milliken Mills High School, Milliken Mills Community Centre, Unionville GO Station, Bill Crothers Secondary School, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School.

Route 8 connects to Viva Pink at Unionville GO Station, and Viva Green and Viva Purple at Rivis Rd. and Highway 7. A small portion of the route is shared with Viva Purple and Viva Green, between Rivis Rd. and Highway 7.

History
The first service along Kennedy Rd. was provided by Markham Transit route 4, which operated on Kennedy between Steeles Ave. and Unionville Gate, and on Main St. Unionville north to Carlton Rd. This was replaced by the rush-hour route 43C of the TTC by the late 1980s. Buses travelled north on Kennedy to Unionville Gate, north on Main St. Unionville to Highway 7, east to Kennedy, north to 16th Ave., and east to an off-street loop at McCowan Rd. and 16th Ave. Markham Transit took over operation of this route in January 1998 as their route 8, and extended it north to an on-street loop at Angus Glen Blvd.

YRT took over this service and expanded the looping to William Berczy Blvd. and Major Mackenzie Dr. Service was also realigned off of Main St. Unionville, and through Unionville GO Station when the new location was opened in 2004.

Select trips were extended to Angus Glen Community Centre in November 2008, due to student requests to have a transfer-free connection from Kennedy to Angus Glen. This service was removed later in 2010 due to low ridership.

Route 8 was declared fully accessible in September 2010.

The 2015 Annual Service Plan will remove service on The Fairways, Prospectors Dr., and Angus Glen Blvd.

Vehicles
Route 8 is primarily a 40ft route, and uses New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR and New Flyer XD40.

Major Stops

 * Steeles Ave.: Southern terminus. Connection to route 203.
 * Denison St.: Connections to route 2, 203.
 * Unionville GO Station - Connections to Viva Pink and routes 42, 202.
 * Highway 7: Connections to Viva Green, Viva Purple, and routes 1, 304.
 * 16th Ave.: Connection to route 16.
 * Major Mackenzie Dr.: Northern terminus. Connections to routes 18, 25.