York Region Transit route 589/590 'Richmond Hill Community Bus'

Basic
589/590 Richmond Hill Community Bus is a community route operating in Richmond Hill, ON. It serves Yonge St., Dunlop St., Major Mackenzie Dr., Harding Blvd., Weldrick Rd., Bathurst St., Elgin Mills Rd W., and Centre St.

This route has 2 branches:
 * 589 Richmond Hill Community Bus - Counter-clockwise (7 days a week)
 * 590 Richmond Hill Community Bus - Clockwise (7 days a week)

This route serves Jubilee Gardens, Bernard Terminal, Upper Yonge Plaza, Richmond Heights Plaza, Central Library, Richmond Hill GO Station, York Central Hospital, T&T Supermarket Plaza, Hillcrest Mall, South Hill Plaza and a medical centre on 955 Major Mackenzie Dr W. It also serves many of the residences in central Richmond Hill.

Route 589/590 connects to VIVA Blue at Yonge and 16th/Carrville, Weldrick, Major Mackenzie, Crosby, Elgin Mills and Bernard.

History
Service was first operated on a community-bus type approach to the seniors in the central Richmond Hill area by Richmond Hill Transit. Orion IIs and/or SoLos were operating at this time. YRT inherited this from Richmond Hill Transit in 2001, and continued to operate it, with conventional low-floor buses (II, SoLo and now SLFs). YRT renumbered it to 89, keeping with the other Richmond Hill-area routes.

In 2005, routes 520 and 521 started operating in Newmarket, providing a similar service with similar name. However, route 89 was not immediately renumbered to the new 5xx category. Finally in September 2008 the number was officially changed to 589.

Starting in 2007, the vehicle type changed to the Mobility Plus ELF vehicles instead of conventional vehicles (by then SLF and EZ Rider IIs). This was to keep more in line with the other community bus routes, which also ran using ELFs. Since there were no destination signs on the ELFs, a sheet of paper describing the route was put in the windows of the vehicles. November 2008 saw the return of conventional vehicles (EZ Riders), however this was likely unplanned as buses ran without destination signs displaying route info.

In September 2008, along with a number change the routing was changed to better serve the community, by changing stops and removing unused ones.

In November 2011, route 590 was created, and following the format for route 520/521, where 589 runs counter-clockwise, and route 590 runs clockwise. Also, the route was extended to serve the Loblaws Plaza and Longo's/Rexall Plaza on Bernard Ave., and the medical building on 955 Major Mackenzie Dr W.

Future Recommendations

 * Review route structure and schedules for possible route re-configuration.

Vehicles
The 99x-series E-Z Rider MAXes provide all service.