York Region Transit

York Region Transit operates the transit service in the Region of York, north of Toronto. York Region Transit services include the City of Vaughan, the Town of Richmond Hill, the Town of Markham, the Town of Aurora, the Town of Newmarket, the Town of East Gwillimbury, the Town of Georgina, the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville and the Township of King. The previous transit operations in the above Cities and Towns were amalgamated under the York Region banner in January 2001, with operations and funding controlled by the Region of York.

Viva operates rapid transit service around York Region, linking Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora, and Newmarket together with the City of Toronto and GO Transit.

Connections are made with the TTC, Brampton Transit, and Mississauga Transit, as well as with GO Transit at several locations within York Region.

Operations and maintenance of vehicles on the YRT/VIVA system are contracted out and organized as a number of operating divisions throughout the region, although all operate seamlessly as one whole transit system. This differs from most other transit agencies in the area that have operations, administration, maintenance, etc in-house, that is directly controlled by the specific City or Town.

Fares
York Region Transit collects exact cash fares in its GFI CENTSaBILL fareboxes, similar to most transit systems in the GTA. Drivers do not make change, and the farebox shows the driver exactly how much money has been put in.

The following are the fares for York Region Transit:

Fares effective January 1, 2014

Zone and fare supplements

 * Zone Upgrade: $1.00
 * York Region’s transit services travel across three fare zones. Zone 1 is anywhere south of King Road in Oak Ridges. Zone 2 is anywhere between Bloomington Road in Aurora and Holborn Road in East Gwillimbury. Zone 3 is anywhere north of Ravenshoe Road in Georgina. A $1.00 cash supplement is required when travelling completely across each zone boundary. The cash supplement is not needed if you only partially travel through the zone boundary (but getting off partially through the zone boundary and waiting for the next bus to pass through the other half of the zone boundary does not count; your Viva validated ticket will have a code that shows which station you validated your ticket in).
 * Customers using cash fare, 1 Zone Tickets, 1 Zone Monthly Passes, or a GTA Weekly Pass must pay the $1.00 supplement if travelling into the second zone and another $1.00 if travelling into the third zone.
 * Customers using a 2 Zone cash fare, 2 Zone Tickets or 2 Zone Monthly Passes only pay the $1.00 supplement if travelling into the third zone.
 * Zone supplements can be purchased at oneRide and multiRide machines at Vivastations and terminals.


 * Express: $0.50
 * Passengers using GTA Passes, Monthly Passes, non-express tickets or transfers must pay a supplement of $0.50 to board YRT Express services. Note that this is a cheaper option than buying 10 express tickets.


 * Get to/from GO: $0.75
 * Along with your 75¢ fare, just remember to display a valid GO Transit ticket or pass to your YRT driver. If you are using Viva, you must be able to present valid GO Transit tickets/passes to Transit Enforcement officers upon request.
 * When travelling to a GO Train Station, single-Ride, two-Ride and 10-Ride GO tickets must have at least one “un-cancelled” ride remaining.
 * When boarding at a GO Train station single-Ride, two-Ride and 10-Ride GO tickets must show the current date/time cancellation from the connecting GO Train or Bus trip.
 * Be certain that one of the GO fare zone numbers indicates the appropriate connecting stations.
 * GO Transit group passes and employee passes cannot be used with the 75¢ Ride to GO fare.
 * YRT and contracted TTC buses connecting GO stations will accept your single-ride GO ticket only if you are leaving a GO Train station.

Customers without valid fares may be subject to a warning or fine.

Transfers
Transfers are issued via the PRESTO printer in all YRT buses, or via the Viva machines located at all Vivastations. They are valid for exactly 2 hours. Transfers will not be issued if you are using the PRESTO card (as the card will identify the amount of time remaining since your initial tap-in). If you are transferring from a YRT/Viva bus to a TTC bus, it is recommended you continue to use paper tickets, as TTC buses do not currently accept PRESTO cards.

Transfers from surrounding GTA transit systems (in TTC's case, provided Zone 3 is punched) will be accepted on YRT vehicles at any location only if there is time remaining. No reissue of transfers will occur. On the other hand, YRT/Viva transfers will be accepted on Brampton Transit, MiWay, Oakville Transit, and TTC-contracted routes North of Steeles only, provided there is time remaining on the transfer.

Conventional transit
All conventional and rapid transit vehicles feature INIT automated next stop announcements, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, bike racks manufactured by Sportworks, air-conditioning, and are wheelchair accessible.

Also see

 * York Region Transit support vehicles
 * York Region Transit on Google Street View