York Region Transit route 'Viva Blue'

Viva Blue is a Viva base route operated by YRT in Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Markham, and Toronto, ON.

Basic
Viva Blue serves Yonge St. between Davis Dr. and Bishop Ave.

This route has 3 main branches:
 * Viva Blue Newmarket Terminal - Finch Terminal
 * Viva Blue Bernard Terminal - Finch Terminal
 * Viva Blue "A" Newmarket Terminal - Finch Terminal bypassing Richmond Hill Centre Terminal (peak periods, directional)

Viva Blue serves the Newmarket, Aurora, Oak Ridges, Richmond Hill, and Thornhill communities. It also serves Upper Canada Mall, York Region Administrative Centre, The Aurora Promenade, Old Richmond Hill, Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Hillcrest Mall, Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, Thornhill Village, and Centerpoint Mall.

Viva Blue runs alongside Viva Pink between Richmond Hill Centre and Finch. It also connects to Viva Purple at Richmond Hill Centre.

Viva Blue is the most heavily used route on the YRT/Viva system; it's 2006 ridership was greater than all of the routes operated by Southeast's Markham Division combined.

History
Viva Blue first started operating on September 4, 2005, as part of Viva phase 1. It initially operated north to Bernard Terminal. It was extended to Newmarket Terminal on November 20 as part of Viva phase 3, with a rush-hour short-turn still operating to Bernard Terminal. In 2007, Viva Blue was officially assigned route 601. This number was only seen by the public for a short time before being removed, although this number is used on Google Maps' transit routing for the route.

Even though the biggest buses operate on this route, it still suffers from overcrowding, especially south of Bernard. Additional buses were ordered in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2013. Service has also increased steadily since inauguration, including the introduction of midday, evening, and weekend service on the Bernard branch.

On June 28, 2010, a new branch, Viva Blue A, was introduced to run express service from Newmarket to Finch and vice-versa, bypassing Richmond Hill Centre Terminal. This corresponds with the cancellation of GO Transit's route 62. It was given the route numbering of 602. Due to increasing ridership, more runs were added on September 5, 2010 bringing the total A trips to 11 southbound and 13 northbound.

Service south of Richmond Hill Centre may be replaced in the future, as part of The Big Move plan is to extend the Yonge Subway north to Richmond Hill Centre. Construction of rapidways along Yonge Street north to 19th Avenue and between Mulock Drive and Davis Drive will commence in 2014 and be complete by 2018.

Vehicles
Viva Blue is primarily a 60ft route and uses Van Hool AG300 and Nova Bus LFX/LFS Artic. Rarely, 40ft Van Hool A330 may provide service.