York Region Transit Richmond Hill Centre Terminal

Richmond Hill Centre Terminal is a transit terminal located in Richmond Hill, ON. It is located northeast of the intersection of Yonge St. and Highway 7, accessible from the connecting road between the two.

Richmond Hill Centre has 10 bays (2 GO, 4 YRT and 4 Viva). As of April 2009, all of the bays have overhead LED displays, which indicate the real-time arrival of the next 2 buses (much like the Vivastations' ticket machines). The terminal also has a Kiss and Ride facility and commuter parking lots. Located across a busy freight railroad track from Langstaff GO Station, a pedestrian bridge has been constructed to link the two together. It is fully wheelchair accessible with elevators at both ends.

The terminal could be described as a 'bare-bones' terminal when it opened, being fully open aired with only 2 automated ticket machines. Only Viva stopped by frequently (and briefly), with the YRT routes coming by every 15 to 30 minutes each. However, over time traffic has increased and heated waiting areas have been added. The previous layover spot has been converted to bays 9 to 11 to service GO Transit.

At approximately 11,050 passengers on an average weekday, Richmond Hill Centre Terminal is the 2nd busiest transit passenger loading location in the YRT/Viva network according to the 2013 Transportation Fact Book. This is an decrease from approximately 11,590 weekday passengers from the 2011 Transportation Fact Book.

Richmond Hill Centre is YRT/Viva's newest terminal in terms of date built, however Markham-Stouffville Hospital is the newest terminal in terms of designation.

History
In September 2005, YRT rolled out the first phase of Viva, their new rapid transit system. The 2 main routes, Blue and Purple, connect at Yonge and Highway 7, the two busiest roads in the region. YRT took this opportunity to build a brand new terminal to promote the service at this location.

The new terminal (including Langstaff GO Station) would become the transportation hub of the planned Langstaff Gateway, centered around Highway 7 and Yonge St.

Richmond Hill Centre performs its current function well. It is a moderately busy terminal, always with people waiting on the platform for the next bus. YRT's customer appreciation days were split between Richmond Hill Centre in the morning and Finch GO Bus Terminal in the afternoon. As transit ridership increases, the usage of this terminal increased as well. It also had room for expansion and on April 26, 2008, the eastern part of the layover area was converted to bays 9 and 10 for GO service.

A pedestrian bridge was seen as necessary for connecting the terminal to nearby Langstaff GO Station. Construction of the pedestrian bridge was delayed, but it finally started in 2007. The bridge opened in March 2008. Construction was again performed beginning in late 2010, and by mid-2011, a fully enclosed waiting area was complete in the middle of the terminal. This was seen as an improvement over the two existing partially enclosed heated waiting areas. In mid-2011, the GO platform was extended to accommodate the transfer of GO 407 East services from Langstaff GO Station to Richmond Hill Centre. A second enclosed waiting area was completed in October 2011. Both enclosed heating areas had a real-time arrivals screen installed in March 2012, which lists all routes serving the terminal. Public washrooms were installed in December 2012.

In the long-term, part of the MoveOntario 2020 initiative is to extend the Yonge Subway further north to Highway 7. Richmond Hill Centre would undergo major modifications, including an expansion of the terminal to accommodate around 23 bays for both GO's Transitway and reorganization of nearby YRT routes.



Routes
This terminal serves 3 Viva routes, 6 YRT routes and 4 GO Transit routes in 11 bays:
 * Bay 1: Viva Purple westbound
 * Bay 2: Viva Purple/Pink eastbound
 * Bay 3: Viva Blue/Pink southbound
 * Bay 4: Viva Blue northbound
 * Bay 5: YRT 1, 91B, 760
 * Bay 6: YRT 83, 87
 * Bay 7: YRT 99 southbound
 * Bay 8: YRT 86, 99 northbound
 * Bay 9: GO 51 westbound, 52 westbound, 54 westbound
 * Bay 10: GO 40
 * Bay 11: GO 51 eastbound, 52 eastbound, 54 eastbound