York Region Transit Bernard Terminal

''Also see: Bernard VIVAstation

Bernard Terminal is a transit terminal located in Richmond Hill, ON. It is located on the southeast corner of Yonge St. and Bernard Ave. in northern Richmond Hill. Buses stop behind a strip plaza in a plaza parking lot.

Bernard is a small and quiet L-shaped terminal. Buses enter the terminal from Yonge St. and exit onto Bernard Ave. There are 3 stopping locations on the west facing side and 3 additional stopping locations on the north facing side. A vivastation is located at the southern most stop for Viva's weekday turnbacks and for regular fares.

Entrances to the terminal are from the middle of the strip plaza and a staircase/ramp from the intersection of Yonge and Bernard.

At approximately 3,817 passengers on an average weekday, Bernard Terminal is the 7th busiest transit passenger loading location in the YRT/Viva network according to the 2013 Transportation Fact Book.

History
Bernard Terminal was originally built in 1996 for GO Transit as the northern terminus for its busy Yonge 'C' route. Newmarket 'B' buses also passed by on their way to Newmarket. When the terminal was built, it was at the most northern reaches of Richmond Hill.

As Richmond Hill grew, Richmond Hill Transit started operating feeder bus service into the terminal so passengers can connect to GO down to Toronto and the Yonge Subway.

YRT took over operations of Richmond Hill Transit and started running additional service through the terminal. The takeover of the Yonge 'C' route in 2003 significantly increased YRT traffic and significantly decreased GO usage of the terminal.

In 2005, Viva Blue commenced operations. Most buses stopped outside the terminal on Yonge St., but during rush hours every second bus uses the terminal to loop. Route 84A/84C also pulled back from the terminal, with riders making a connection to Viva Blue instead at King Rd.

The extremely compact and small size of Bernard meant that the volume of routes serving the terminal during rush hours started to overcrowd the terminal. As a result, route 83 was moved to stop outside the terminal at a shelter on Bernard Ave. in 2006. YRT also merged routes 98 and 99 during late evenings, so buses serviced both routes. These two changes dropped service levels so that Bernard was a very quiet terminal outside of rush hours.

The grading and construction of Bernard combined with its small compact size makes it very awkward for photography; it is known as one of the worst terminals to take photos at in the GTA.

Routes
Bernard Terminal serves 1 Viva route and 5 YRT routes.

Bays are listed in order from entering the terminal on Yonge St.:
 * Bay 1: Common layover/unloading platform
 * Bay 2: Viva Blue (some buses), YRT 86 if bay 3 is in use
 * Bay 3: YRT 86
 * Bay 4: YRT 81
 * Bay 5: YRT 98
 * Bay 6: YRT 99

Viva Blue to/from Newmarket loads at the Vivastations on Yonge St. south of Bernard Ave. Routes 98 and 99 are interlined during late evenings and do not enter the terminal, and instead also use the vivastations. YRT 83 stops on Bernard Ave. in front of the terminal.