York Region Transit route 91 'Bayview'

91 Bayview (previously known as 91 Bayview South) is a base route operated by YRT in Richmond Hill, Markham, and Toronto, ON.

Basic
Routes 91, 91A, 91B, and 91E combined mainly serve Bayview Ave. between North Lake Rd. and Steeles Ave.

This route has 4 branches:
 * 91 Taylor Mills - Finch Terminal
 * 91A Subrisco - Finch Terminal (Monday to Saturday)
 * 91B Oak Ridges - Richmond Hill Centre Terminal (Weekday rush hours only)
 * 91E Subrisco - Finch Terminal Limited Stops (Three trips SB)

These routes combined serve the Oak Ridges, Beverly Acres, Redstone, Bayview Hill, and Thornhill communities. They also serve Bond Lake Arena, Oak Ridges Moraine Library, Lake Wilcox Community Centre, Bayview Plaza, Jean Vanier Catholic High School, Bayview Secondary School, Smart!Centres Richmond Hill, The David Dunlap Observatory, Thornlea Secondary School, Thornhill Community Centre, and Centerpoint Mall.

Routes 91, 91A, 91B, and 91E all connect to Viva Pink during peak periods and Viva Purple at Highway 7 or High Tech Rd. Route 91B connects to Viva Blue at Yonge/King and at Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, and routes 91 and 91A connect to Viva Blue and Viva Pink during peak periods at Yonge/Steeles and Finch Station, where it also connects with route 91E. A small portion of route 91B is shared with Viva Purple, between Highway 7 and Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, while a small portion of routes 91, 91A, and 91E are shared with Viva Blue and Viva Pink, between Yonge/Steeles and Finch Station.

History
Service along Bayview Ave. in York Region first started in the form of GO Transit route 58. It operated between GO's York Region Terminal and Taylor Mills Dr., along the same route as the current route 91. Service was operated by GO because it passed through both Markham Transit's and Richmond Hill Transit's service area. Transfers to/from those companies were accepted, however.

YRT took over operations from GO Transit in 2003, 2 years after amalgamation. It also acquired a number of Orion Vs from GO Transit in the takeover. Service was extended to Subrisco Ave. in the form of route 91A soon after, and service expanded from weekday peak periods only to 6 days a week.

In 2006, YRT experimented with a point-express service along Bayview Ave. Named 340 Bayview Express, it provided a quicker trip to Finch Station for passengers living north of High Tech Rd. No other point-express routes have been made on other major corridors, however. In 2007, only the southbound AM trips remained due to minimal time savings.

Also in 2006, routes 91 and 91A had a 'South' suffix added to its name. This (and similar additions to 90 Leslie and 99 Yonge C) promoted the area of York Region this route served better, so as to not cause confusion with similarly-named routes in Newmarket (54 Bayview North, 58 Leslie North and 98 Yonge North, respectively).

Route 91 was indirectly affected by the York University strike between November 6, 2008 and January 29, 2009 due to a high proportion of riders living along the route who commute to York University.

On September 6, 2009, route 91B began providing service along Bayview Ave. from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal to/from Bloomington Rd. via Snivley St. in the north and Highway 7 in the south. Service operated southbound only in the AM rush and northbound only in the PM rush with buses deadheading to their respective starting points in between trips. Eventually service was expanded to cover the full east half of Oak Ridges on September 7, 2010, and operate on both directions on April 23, 2012.

Routes 91, 91A, 91B, and 91E were one of the first routes declared fully accessible in September 2009.

On September 5, 2010, to prevent confusion, the 'South' suffix was removed from route signs.

Operations for route 91 were transferred from Southwest Division to Southeast Division on June 30, 2013.

Vehicles
Routes 91, 91A, 91B, and 91E are primarily 40ft routes, and use New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR and New Flyer XD40.

Major Stops

 * Balilol Ave.: Northern terminus for route 91B.
 * North Lake Rd.: Connection to route 84.
 * Yonge/King: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 22/22A, 84.
 * Old Colony Rd.
 * Woodriver/Rosetree: Northern terminus for route 91E.
 * Subrisco Ave.: Northern terminus for route 91A. Connection to route 241.
 * Bayview Plaza: Northern terminus for route 91. Connection to route 241.
 * Major Mackenzie Dr.: Connections to routes 4/4A, 25, 589/590.
 * 16th Ave.: Connections to routes 16, 85/85C.
 * High Tech Rd.: Connections to Viva Pink, Viva Purple, and route 1.
 * Richmond Hill Centre Terminal: Southern terminus for route 91B. Serves Bay 5. Connections to Viva Blue, Viva Pink, Viva Purple, and routes 1, 83, 86, 87, 99, 760.
 * John St.: Served by routes 91 and 91A. Connections to routes 2, 3.
 * Steeles Ave.: Served by routes 91 and 91A.
 * Finch Terminal: Southern terminus for routes 91, 91A, and 91E. Serves Bay 3. Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 2, 5, 23, 77/77A, 88/88A, 98E, 99, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 760.