York Region Transit route 99 'Yonge'

99 Yonge (previously known as 99 Yonge 'C' and 99 Yonge South) is a base route operated by YRT in Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Markham, and Toronto, ON.

Basic
Route 99 serves Yonge St. between Finch Ave. and Bernard Ave.

This route has 3 branches:
 * 99 Bernard Terminal - Finch Terminal
 * 98/99 Green Lane - Finch Terminal (Late nights)
 * 98/99 Finch Station - Newmarket Terminal (Last 3 trips NB late nights)

Route 99 serves the Downtown Richmond Hill, Bayview Glen, and Thornhill communities. It also serves Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Richmond Hill Central Library, Hillcrest Mall, Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, Thornhill Village, Thornhill Secondary School, and Centerpoint Mall.

Route 99 shares its entire length with Viva Blue and Viva Pink between Richmond Hill Centre Terminal and Finch Station. It also connects with Viva Purple at Richmond Hill Centre Terminal.

History
Transit service on Yonge St. in York Region first appeared as radial service. A suburban streetcar line ran along Yonge St. between Glen Echo (in Toronto) and the shores of Lake Simcoe. This was abandoned and replaced by a bus service operating to Richmond Hill, possibly to Bernard, like today's service. The TTC operated this service as 59 North Yonge, and there were many zonal boundaries to be crossed (Richmond Hill was boundary 4). GO Transit later started operating local and express service along Yonge St. from its York Mills Terminal. Express service ran to Newmarket (Newmarket 'B'), while local service mostly ran to Bernard Terminal (Yonge 'C'). There were numerous short turns on the local service, which changed often, and the route at one time had as many as 4 short turns.

YRT took over operations from GO Transit in 2003, 2 years after amalgamation. It also acquired a number of Orion Vs from GO Transit in the takeover. The route had the number 99 added. Only one short turn remained, at Major Mackenzie Dr., numbered route 99A. Service was very frequent, with a bus arriving every 3-4 minutes. Service was also boosted by a number of routes using Yonge St. to access Finch Station, including high-frequency routes 1 and 77.

In September 2005, a number of changes to this route occurred. Viva service started operating along Yonge St. between Finch Station and Bernard Terminal. This severely cut the once-mighty route into a local-orientated route. Also, Richmond Hill Centre was opened at Yonge St. and Highway 7, with buses now diverting into the terminal from both directions. With the introduction of Viva, GO Transit's express service Newmarket 'B' was reduced to rush hours only. Viva Pink started operations in January 2006, giving more peak-period service to the section south of Highway 7.

Route 99 has only had a few more changes after this. Its name changed from 99 Yonge 'C' to 99 Yonge South in 2006. This, and similar changes to 91 Bayview and 90 Leslie, promoted the area of the region it served better, and so as to not cause confusion between similar services running in Newmarket (98 Yonge North, 54 Bayview North and 58 Leslie North, respectively). Also, late-night service is run integrated with route 98, so buses on route 99 also run on route 98 up to Green Lane in Newmarket, and vice-versa.

Route 99 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 99 was one of the first routes declared fully accessible in September 2009.

On September 5, 2010, to prevent confusion, the 'South' suffix was removed from route signs.

Operations for route 99 and 98/99 late night were transferred from Southwest Division to Southeast Division on August 31, 2014.

Vehicles
Route 99 is primarily a 40ft route, and uses New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR and New Flyer XD40.

Major Stops

 * Green Lane: Northern terminus for route 98/99.
 * Newmarket Terminal: Served by route 98/99. Serves Bay 6. Connections to Viva Blue and routes 55, 57A, 98.
 * Mulock Dr.: Served by route 98/99. Connections to Viva Blue and routes 57A, 98.
 * Wellington St.: Served by route 98/99. Connections to Viva Blue and route 98.
 * Henderson Dr.: Served by route 98/99. Connections to Viva Blue and route 98.
 * Bloomington Rd.: Served by route 98/99. Connections to Viva Blue and route 98.
 * King Rd.: Served by route 98/99. Connections to Viva Blue and route 98.
 * Bernard Terminal: Northern terminus for route 99. Serves Bay 6. Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 81, 83, 86, 98/98E.
 * Major Mackenzie Dr.: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 4/4A, 25, 589/590.
 * 16th Ave.: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A and routes 16, 85/85C, 86.
 * Richmond Hill Centre Terminal: Serves Bay 7 southbound and Bay 8 northbound. Connections to Viva Blue, Viva Pink, Viva Purple, and routes 1, 83, 86, 87, 91B, 760.
 * Royal Orchard Blvd.: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 3, 77A, 760.
 * Steeles Ave.: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 2, 5, 23, 77/77A, 88/88A, 91/91A, 760.
 * Finch Terminal: Southern terminus. Serves Bay 8. Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 2, 5, 23, 77/77A, 88/88A, 91/91A, 98E, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 760.