York Region Transit route 520/521 'Newmarket Community Bus'

Basic
520/521 Newmarket Community Bus is a community route operated by YRT in Newmarket and East Gwilimbury, ON. It serves Davis Dr., Eagle, Gorham, Leslie and Yonge Sts.

This route has 2 main branches:
 * 520 Clockwise (7 days a week)
 * 521 Counter-Clockwise (Weekdays)

This route serves Newmarket Terminal, Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket GO Station, Southlake Hospital and 404 Town Centre.

Routes 520/521 connect to Viva Blue at Yonge and Eagle and Newmarket Terminal.

History
Routes 520 and 521 were inaugerated in September 2005, when YRT decided to experiment with expanding Community Bus routes to more areas. Richmond Hill Transit had operated a community bus route in Richmond Hill (route 89), and was successfully continued by YRT. The new 5xx category would be assigned to the community bus routes, and 520 and 521 were the first routes in this category.

When this service began, service was cut back on route 56, which shared Gorham and Eagle Sts. Service was not reduced on Davis Dr., despite fully overlaping route 55.

After service was introduced, 521 was cut outside of weekdays, and only 520 operated during weekends. 56 also regained full 7 day service to replace the eastbound service lost from 521's elimination.

In order to cut on fuel costs, operations were transferred from Southwest Division to North Division in July 2012.

Future Recommendation

 * N/A

Vehicles
Back when this route was operated by Mobility Plus, ELFs and E-Z Rider II MAXs were the common buses on the route. With the transfer from Southwest to North Division in July 2012, this route is operated exclusively by ElDorado buses of all kinds.