York Region Transit route 129A 'McCowan North'

129A McCowan North is a base route operated by the TTC under contract to YRT in Markham, ON.

Basic
Route 129A serves McCowan Rd. between Steeles Ave. and Major Mackenzie Dr.

This route has 1 branch:
 * 129A Scarborough Ctr Stn - Major Mackenzie

This route serves the Milliken, South Unionville, and Berczy communities. It also serves Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy, Markville Mall, Centennial Community Centre, Centennial GO Station, and Markville Secondary School.

Route 129A connects to Viva Green during peak periods and Viva Purple at Highway 7.

History
Service was contracted out to the TTC by Markham Transit. This involved TTC operating the buses and collecting the fares, but Markham Transit paying for any losses in running the service. A TTC fare was required for passengers travelling south of Steeles Ave., but only a Markham fare was required if the entire trip was north of Steeles. When Markham Transit was acquired by YRT, the contract was picked up as well, with similar conditions.

Service north of Steeles first operated in 1987, to 16th Ave, at the time the edge of Markham. An off-street loop was available for use (and also being used by route 43C), but buses instead looped via 16th, Cairns, and Raymerville. Service started operating 6 days a week including late evening service; a rarity.

With additional development occurring further north, buses were extended north on McCowan and west on Major Mackenzie, to loop on-street halfway between McCowan and Kennedy. This extension happened in 2002. Operations have been mostly stable ever since, with service being increased to 7 days a week.

Route 129A was declared fully accessible in February 2012.

This route may be transferred to a YRT route as part of the Spadina Subway Extension Transit Strategy.�

Vehicles
Routes 129A is a 40ft route from Malvern Division, and use Orion VII HEV/NG HEV. Occasionally Orion V and 60ft Nova Bus LFS Artic may provide service.

Major Stops

 * Scarborough Centre Station: Southern terminus.
 * Steeles Ave.: Start/end of York Region fare zone.
 * 14th Ave.: Connection to route 14.
 * Highway 7: Connections to Viva Green, Viva Purple and routes 1, 40, 41, 42, 45, 301, 304, 522.
 * 16th Ave.: Connections to routes 16, 304.
 * Castlemore/The Bridle Walk: Northern terminus. Connection to route 42.