York Region Transit route 7 'Martin Grove'

7 Martin Grove is a local route operated by YRT in Toronto and Vaughan, ON.

Basic
Route 7 mainly serves Martin Grove Rd., north of Finch Ave. It also serves Humber College Blvd. and Highway 27 down to Woodbine Centre.

This route has 2 branches:
 * 7 Woodbine Centre - Al Palladini Community Ctr. (Weekdays)
 * 7 Steeles (Islington Loop) - Al Palladini Community Ctr. (Saturdays)

This route serves the Woodbridge community. It also serves Woodbine Race Track, William Osler Health Centre, Humber College North Campus, Holy Cross Catholic Academy High School, and Father Ermanno Bulfon Rink.

Route 7 connects to Viva Orange at Highway 7.

History
Route 7 originated as Vaughan Transit's route 7. It operated with 2 branches: Route 7, which ran from an off-street loop on Steeles west of Martin Grove to another off-street loop at Langstaff and Highway 27, and route 7A, which ran alongside route 7 to Martin Grove and Morning Star, where it looped around Morning Star back to Martin Grove. Route 7A had rush-hour only service.

When YRT took over operations from Vaughan Transit, it combined the branches and expanded the looping via Morning Star, Highway 27 and Langstaff back to route. Rush hour buses went further up Highway 27 to Martin Grove, and back to route. This rush hour loop became the standard for all buses in 2004. Limited service was also being operated to Islington Loop at this time.

In September 2005, route 7 was extended on weekdays south to Humber College and Woodbine Centre via Martin Grove, Finch, Humber College and Highway 27 to Rexdale Blvd. South of Steeles Avenue, southbound buses perform drop-offs only, and northbound buses perform pick-ups only.

Route 7 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.

Route 7 was declared fully accessible in September 2010.

July 2012 brought some restructuring to services in Woodbridge. Route 10 was cut back to provide two-way service along Woodbridge Ave., and route 7 replaced its routing by traveling north on Highway 27 and east on Rutherford Road to the Al Palladini C.C. at Islington Avenue.

The 2013 Annual Service Plan initially truncated the south end of route 7 at Humber College with service between Humber College and Woodbine Centre discontinued, however this was never implemented.

Vehicles
Route 7 sees a mix of 30ft service provided by E-Z Rider II and 40ft service provided by New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR, Van Hool A330, New Flyer XD40, or occasionally Orion V.

Major Stops

 * Woodbine Centre: Southern terminus during weekdays.
 * Humber College: Served during weekdays.
 * Finch Ave.: Served during weekdays.
 * Islington/Steeles: Southern terminus during Saturdays. Connections to routes 12, 13.
 * Holy Cross Catholic Academy High School
 * Highway 7: Connections to Viva Orange and route 77/77A.
 * Morning Star Dr.: Connection to route 10.
 * Al Palladini Community Centre: Northern terminus. Connections to routes 13, 85.