York Region Transit route 4 'Major Mackenzie'

4 Major Mackenzie is a base route operated by YRT in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham, ON.

Basic
Routes 4 and 4A combined mainly serve Major Mackenzie Dr. between Weston Rd. and Woodbine Ave. Route 4 also serves Jane St. between Major Mackenzie Dr. and Rutherford Rd.

This route has 2 main branches:
 * 4 Vaughan Mills Mall - Woodbine
 * 4A Weston - Woodbine

These routes serve the Maple, Thornhill Woods, Bayview Hill, and Cathedraltown communities. They also serve Maple High School, Canada's Wonderland, City of Vaughan Municipal Offices, Maple GO Station, York Central Hospital, Alexander Mackenzie High School, Richmond Hill Central Library, Richmond Hill GO Station, and Bayview Secondary School. One trip in the morning and one in the afternoon from route 4 also serve St Joan of Arc Catholic High School.

Routes 4 and 4A both connect to Viva Blue at Yonge St.

History
Major Mackenzie Dr. was originally served by two routes. Vaughan Transit's route 4, ran from Bayview Avenue and Major Mackenzie Dr. to Jane St., looping via Cranston Park, with a rush hour extension south on Jane St. to Langstaff Rd. Richmond Hill Transit also had a route 7, operating during rush hours from Bathurst St. to Woodbine Ave., looping via Hillmount and Markland.

YRT took over both services in 2001, and combined the two routes together, with route 4 operating between Jane/Langstaff via Cranston Park to Woodbine, and route 4A during rush hours providing extra service between Bathurst and Spadina. This provided service along half of Jane Street, with the southern half provided by 35D Jane.

Vaughan Mills opened in November 2004, with buses being routed through the terminal in both directions. Route 20 Jane was also introduced at this time, providing through service along Jane Street. This resulted in route 4 being cut back to loop via Jane St., Springside Rd. and Melville Ave. in September 2005.

Route 4A was also restructured in September 2005. The loops at Bathurst and Spadina were eliminated, with the route extended west to Weston Rd. and east to Angus Glen Community Centre. The eastern terminus was later extended east again to Mount Joy GO Station in January 2006. Midday service was introduced on route 4A in September 2008, and rush hour service was again extended east via Donald Cousens Pkwy. to Markham-Stouffville Hospital until Cornell Terminal is open.

Service on route 4 was extended to Vaughan Mills again in April 2009, providing two-way service along Jane St. At the same time, buses no longer entered the bus loop at Canada's Wonderland, instead serving the park from Jane St.

Routes 4 and 4A were declared fully accessible in September 2010.

The 2013 Annual Service Plan had route 4 restructured. The initial plan had west end service provided via route 4 between Vaughan Mills and Bayview, and route 4A (to be renumbered to route 25) serving between Harding Blvd. (west of Yonge) and Markham-Stouffville Hospital. Both routes will operate daily, and service west of Jane, along Hillmount, and to Mount Joy GO Station will be removed. This was later modified, and on June 30, 2013, route 4 was largely kept the same, except service on McNaughton Rd., Melville Ave., and Brandon Gate Dr. was removed and is now provided by route 26. Route 4A was kept, now providing daily service between Weston Rd. and Woodbine Ave., using the same looping as route 4. Service east of Woodbine Ave. is provided by route 25.

Vehicles
Routes 4 and 4A are primarily 40ft routes, and uses New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR. Occasionally Van Hool A330 or New Flyer XD40 may provide service.

Major Stops

 * Weston Rd.: Western terminus for route 4A. Connections to routes 165A/165D/165F.
 * Vaughan Mills Terminal: Western terminus for route 4. Serves Bay 8. Connections to routes 12, 20/20A, 21, 26, 85/85C, 87, 360, 760.
 * Jane/Major Mackenzie: Route 4 serves stop on Jane, route 4A serves stop on Major Mackenzie. Connection to route 20/20A.
 * Keele St.: Connections to routes 22A, 107C/107D.
 * Bathurst St.: Connections to routes 23, 88/88A.
 * Yonge St.: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 25, 99, 589/590.
 * Newkirk Dr.: Stop for Richmond Hill GO Station. Connections to routes 25, 82, 86, 240, 241, 242, 243, 589/590.
 * Bayview Ave.: Connections to routes 25, 91/91A/91B/91E, 589/590.
 * Markland/Hillmount: Eastern terminus. Connections to routes 24D/224B/224D.