York Region Transit route 3 'Thornhill'

3 Thornhill is a base route operated by YRT in Toronto, Vaughan, and Markham, ON.

Basic
Route 3 mainly serves New Westminster Dr., Atkinson Ave., Royal Orchard Blvd., Willowbrook Rd., Green Lane, and Simonston Blvd.

This route has 2 branches:
 * 3 York University - Don Mills Road
 * 3 Don Mills Road - Yonge Street (last trip on weekends)

This route serves the Thornhill community. It also serves Bathurst Clark Resource Library, St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Promenade Terminal, Westmount Collegiate Institute, Rosemount Community Centre, Vaughan City Playhouse, Thornhill Village Library, Thornhill Community Centre, Thornlea Secondary School, St. Robert Catholic High School, and The Shoppes on Steeles and 404.

Route 3 connects to Viva Orange at York University, Viva Purple at York University, Promenade Terminal, and at Atkinson/Bathurst, and to Viva Blue and Viva Pink at Centre/Yonge and Yonge/Royal Orchard. A small portion of the route is shared with Viva Blue and Viva Pink, between Centre/Yonge and Yonge/Royal Orchard.

History
Markham Transit originally operated a number of short routes in the Thornhill area, namely 5 Thornlea, 6 Thornhill, 7 Romfield, and 8 Royal Orchard. These were eventually amalgamated into 3 Thornhill, which passed into YRT operation in 2001.

In May 2002, YRT combined route 3 and route 18, providing one route running from the Thornhill area to serve Promenade Terminal and York University. This resulted in the renaming of the route to 3 Thornhill-York University.

Two additional branches were created in 2004: Route 3A, providing extra service between York University and Promenade Terminal, and route 3B, which diverted into the new York University GO Station. Both these branches were rush-hours only. Route 3A only ran during the university school year, September-April.

In September 2005, Viva Purple was introduced. This provided an easier and faster connection between Promenade Terminal and York University than route 3, and therefore service was reduced on route 3, including the elimination of route 3A.

Route 3 was affected by the York University strike between November 6, 2008 and January 29, 2009.

Route 3 was one of the first routes declared fully accessible in September 2009.

In September 2011, route 3B was discontinued due to low ridership.

Route 3 was renamed from "Thornhill-York University" to "Thornhill" on June 30, 2013.

The Spadina Subway Transit Strategy will modify route 3's routing inside York University in 2016. Service will operate via Keele St., York Blvd., York University Busway, The Pond Rd. (serving York University Station), Ian MacDonald Blvd., Northwest Gate, and Steeles Ave (serving Pioneer Village Station).

Vehicles
Route 3 is primarily a 40ft route, and uses New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR. Occasionally Van Hool A330 or New Flyer XD40 may provide service.

Major Stops

 * York University: Western terminus. Serves Bay 2 or 3. Connections to Viva Orange, Viva Purple, and routes 10, 20/20A, 22A, 107B/107C/107D.
 * New Westminster/Steeles
 * Promenade Terminal: Serves Bay 4 westbound and Bay 5 eastbound. Connections to Viva Purple and routes 23, 77, 88/88A, 160.
 * Yonge/Royal Orchard: Connections to Viva Blue/Blue A, Viva Pink, and routes 77A, 99.
 * Bayview/John (Thornhill Community Centre): Connections to routes 2, 91/91A.
 * Green Lane/Leslie: Connection to route 90/90B.
 * Steeles/Don Mills: Eastern terminus. Connection to route 90/90B.