Finch GO Bus Terminal

Finch GO Bus Terminal (formerly York Region Terminal) is a transit terminal located in Toronto, ON. It is located at Yonge St. and Bishop Ave., one block north of Finch Ave. It has a direct connection to Finch Subway Station on the Yonge Subway, which is the main reason the terminal was built on this location.

The terminal includes a small terminal building, consisting mainly of a newsstand, washroom and an elevator and stairs to the subway. The terminal area consists of a long platform to the north and east of the building with 7 bays, and an island in the centre of the terminal with 8 more bays. The centre island has 3 larger shelters and plenty of open air waiting room. A large layover/staging area is available for approximately 10 buses in the east part of the terminal area.

Commuter parking lots and a passenger pick up/drop off are available on TTC property, but are connected through non-fare paid tunnels to Finch GO Bus Terminal. 2 automatic ticket machines for YRT/Viva are across from bay 2, which Viva occupies.

At approximately 18,200 passengers on an average weekday, Finch GO Bus Terminal is the busiest transit passenger loading location in the YRT/Viva network according to the 2013 Transportation Fact Book. This is an increase from approximately 16,600 weekday passengers from the 2011 Transportation Fact Book. It is also the oldest connection for York Region buses to the subway, with the only other connections opening in 2002 and 2005 for Don Mills and Downsview Stations respectively.

History
York Region Terminal opened just north of the TTC's Finch Station bus terminal when the subway was extended to Finch in 1974. Even though the TTC terminal was originally outside the fare-paid area (soon to be abolished), GO buses had to use the seperate facility, connected to the TTC area through a long tunnel which also connected the parking lots and passenger pick up/drop off.

York Region Terminal was not located in York Region, rather 2 km south of the Steeles border. However, it was referred to as such since the GO Newmarket 'B', Yonge 'C' and Bayview buses used it as its main terminus. 2 of the 3 Southern York Region transit systems, Markham Transit and Vaughan Transit, had routes running into the terminal as well, namely Markham routes 1, 2, and the Business, Markham and Unionville express buses, and Vaughan routes 5 and 77 (shared with Brampton Transit).

With the creation of YRT in 2001, YRT quickly took over most of the terminal, especially in 2003 when the Yonge 'C' and Bayview services were transfered to YRT from GO. Most buses running between Bayview and Bathurst and south of Highway 7 were routed south (usually via Yonge St.) into the terminal, quickly making it the largest, busiest and most important terminal belonging to YRT, with thousands of York Region residents using it daily to access the subway.

So many buses use the approach down Yonge St. that the peak frequency between Steeles and Finch was comparable only to Eglinton Ave. E when the original Yonge Subway opened. TTC express buses on 53E,F and 60E often use Willowdale or even Bayview to access Finch Station. Dedicated bus lanes are being planned to help buses make it through the daily gridlock in this section.

An elevator opened in the terminal building in 2006, finally making the YRT/GO terminal accessible to wheelchair and disabled passengers, almost a full decade after the subway platform and TTC terminals had elevators installed.

In October 2008, asphalt paving of the bus turnaround loop, upgrade works to the island, north and south bus platforms, repair of concrete curbs, installation of three new shelters, installation of new light standards, and installation of closed circuit television cameras caused some YRT routes to load and unload in different bays. To minimize delays, most of the asphalt work was done on weekends. Most importantly, a new bay was added (Platform 13A), which is now the new drop off bay. With the new bay, the 5 Clark buses will not be delayed as much by another bus not on the route taking over the bay for drop off purposes.

In May 2009, the construction work was done and platforms were renumbered, also new Terminal signage was installed with next bus times and the Shelters were also upgraded.

September 2012 saw a complete reorganization of bus bay platforms for YRT and GO Transit, mostly to improve efficiency on certain routes exiting the terminal. One GO Transit route was moved to the island platform, as it would proceed north on Yonge St. after leaving the terminal, hence loading on the island would eliminate the need to use Bishop Ave.

Finch may lose much of its glamour soon: as part of the MoveOntario 2020 plan, the Yonge Subway will be extended north past Finch and to Richmond Hill Centre at Highway 7. There is a strong possibility of a new terminal being built at Steeles, closer to York Region riders, and this may result in the permanent closure of Finch's YRT/GO terminal. For now, however, it will continue to carry out its current duty.

Routes
Note that there is no Bay 7.


 * Bay 1: Unloading / Viva Pink
 * Bay 2: Viva Blue/Blue A
 * Bay 3: YRT 91/91A/91E, 98E
 * Bay 4: GO 27
 * Bay 5: GO 19
 * Bay 6: GO 96
 * Bay 8: YRT 99
 * Bay 9: GO 32
 * Bay 10: YRT 77/77A
 * Bay 11: YRT 300, 301, 302, 303, 304
 * Bay 12: YRT 2, 303 (if Bay 11 is occupied)
 * Bay 13: YRT Unloading (formerly Bay 13A)
 * Bay 14: YRT 5 (formerly Bay 13B)
 * Bay 15: YRT 88/88A (formerly Bay 14)
 * Bay 16: YRT 23, 760 (formerly Bay 15)
 * Bay 17: Tai Pan Tours
 * Bay 18: Layovers Only