York Region Transit route 55 'Davis Drive'

55 Davis Drive is a base route operated by YRT in Newmarket, ON.

Basic
Routes 55 and 55B combined mainly serve Davis Dr. between Eagle St. and Leslie St. Route 55B also serves Huron Heights Dr. and Leslie Valley Dr.

This route has 2 main branches:
 * 55 GO Terminal - 404 Town Centre
 * 55B GO Terminal - 404 Town Centre via Huron Heights (Weekday rush hours only)

These routes serve Downtown Newmarket and the eastern Newmarket communities. They also serve Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket GO Station, Tannery Mall, Southlake Regional Health Centre, and Huron Heights Secondary School. One trip in the morning and one in the afternoon also serve Bales Dr. Industrial Park.

Routes 55 and 55B both connect to Viva Blue at Newmarket Terminal.

History
Newmarket Transit operated route 55 before YRT took over operations in 2001. This route had 3 branches: 55A which ran along Davis Dr., 55B which operated along Gorham and Eagle, and 55C which operated along Mulock. All 3 branches ran between the Newmarket GO Bus Terminal and 404 Town Centre. On Sundays, buses ran interlined on the 3 branches to form two routes: 55A/55B Davis/Gorham/Eagle, and 55A/55C Davis/Mulock. Buses ran east on 55A then west on their respective branch.

These 3 branches were fully separated in September 2002, into 55 Davis Dr., 56 Gorham-Eagle, and 57 Mulock Dr. Also in September 2002, two-way Sunday service started on all 3 branches, with one bus dedicated to each route. Finally, every 2nd rush hour bus was extended north to Sharon (off-peak service was provided by route 57). This branch was later renamed route 55A.

In September 2004, route 55A (to Sharon) was eliminated, replaced by route 58. At the same time, a new route 55B was implemented via Huron Heights and Leslie Valley, replacing the northern portion of route 33.

In April 2008, one route 55 trip in each peak period was extended east to the Bales Dr. Industrial Park, east of Highway 404. This replaced the old route 225, which used to operate between 404 Town Centre and the Bales Dr. Industrial Park. Route 225 was discontinued in 2007 due to poor ridership performance.

Service on route 55B was cut from Monday to Saturday service to weekday rush hour service only on April 23, 2012.

Routes 55 and 55B were declared fully accessible in December 2012.

The 2015 Annual Service Plan will extend route 55 east from 404 Town Centre to the 404 Carpool Lot, mirroring the future Viva Yellow routing. Peak period service on route 55 will also be eliminated.

Vehicles
Routes 55 and 55B see a mix of 30ft service provided by E-Z Rider II/BRT/MAX and 40ft service provided by New Flyer D40LF or occasionally Orion VI.

Major Stops

 * Newmarket GO Bus Terminal: Western terminus. Serves Bay 5. Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 22A, 44, 50, 52, 56, 57/57A, 58, 98, 520/521.
 * Tannery (Newmarket GO Station): Connections to routes 44, 50, 54, 58, 223, 520/521.
 * Huron Heights Dr.: Connections to routes 50, 54, 58.
 * Leslie/Leslie Valley: Served on route 55B. Connections to routes 50, 56, 58.
 * 404 Town Centre: Eastern terminus. Connections to routes 50, 56, 57/57A, 58, 222, 520/521.
 * Bales Dr. Industrial Park: Served by two trips weekdays.