Highway 7 Rapidway

Highway 7 Rapidway
Warden Vivastation
Overview
System	Viva Rapid Transit
Operator	York Region Transit
Began service	March 6, 2011
Route
Locale	York Region, Ontario (Vaughan; Richmond Hill; Markham)
Start	Wigwoss–Helen
End	Birchmount Road
Stations	25
Route map Legend Wigwoss–Helen Pine Valley Ansley Grove Weston Highway 400 Commerce Vaughan Creditstone Canadian National Railway MacMillan Yard Keele Barrie line Highway 407 Dufferin Taiga Disera–Promenade Atkinson Highway 407 Bathurst Yonge Street Rapidway Richmond Hill Centre Yonge North extension Langstaff GO Richmond Hill line Bayview Chalmers Valleymede West Beaver Creek Highway 404 Leslie East Beaver Creek Allstate Parkway Woodbine Montgomery Town Centre Cedarland Warden Andre De Grasse University Unionville GO Stouffville line Legends Rapidway Mixed traffic Detailed diagram Birchmount Rd Enterprise Blvd Warden/Enterprise Warden Ave Cedarland Cedarland Dr (S) Town Centre Blvd Highway 7 Town Centre Montgomery ←Montgomery Ct Fairburn Dr→ Montgomery Woodbine Ave Woodbine Allstate Pkwy ←Allstate Pkwy E Valhalla Dr→ Highway 404 East Beaver Creek ←East Beaver Creek Rd Commerce Valley Dr E→ East Beaver Creek Leslie Leslie St Leslie West Beaver Creek ←West Beaver Creek Rd Commerce Valley Dr W→ West Beaver Creek Valleymede ←Valleymede Dr TImes Ave→ Valleymede Chalmers ←Chalmers Rd South Park Rd→ Chalmers Bayview Bayview Ave Langstaff GO Richmond Hill line Richmond Hill Centre Yonge St Bathurst & Highway 7 Atkinston ←New Westminster Dr Atkinston Ave→ Atkinston Centre St Bathurst St Disera-Promenade Taiga Taiga Dr Taiga Dufferin Dufferin St Dufferin 407 ETR Barrie Line Keele Keele St Keele MacMillan Yard to CN York Subdivision Creddistone ←Melville Ave Creddistone Rd→ Creddistone Jane St Line 1 Yonge–University to Finch via Union station Vaughan Commerce Commerce Rd Commerce Highway 400 Weston Weston Rd Weston Ansley Grove Whitmore Rd Ansley Grove  Ansley Grove Rd Pine Valley Pine Valley Dr Pine Valley Wigwoss-Helen Helen St Wigwoss-Helen Wigwoss Dr This diagram: view talk edit ← {{{previous_line}}}  {{{system_nav}}}  {{{next_line}}} →

The Highway 7 Rapidway in York Region, Ontario, Canada, is a bus rapid transit right-of-way that runs from Bruce Street in Vaughan to Birchmount Road in Markham. There are plans to extend it west to Highway 50 and east to Cornell Terminal. It is served by the Viva Purple and Viva Orange bus routes.

Route description

The Highway 7 Rapidway consists of bus lanes in the median of Highway 7 between Pine Valley Drive in Vaughan and Town Centre Boulevard in Markham. It also includes a bus-only road parallel to Enterprise Drive, between Warden Avenue and Birchmount Road. Stations along the rapidway include heated shelters protected from the elements.

On March 6, 2011, the first segment of the rapidway from Warden Road to Birchmount Road including the Warden Rapidway station opened. On August 18, 2013, the Rapidway along Highway 7 opened from Richmond Hill Centre to East Beaver Creek Drive and the subsequent year to Town Centre Boulevard (and to Cedarland on December 28, 2014). ^[1]

On February 26, 2017, YRT 77 Highway 7 buses began serving the Creditstone and Keele Rapidway stations. After an extension of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway opened on December 17 that year, Viva Orange began serving Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station (via a covered on-street rapidway facility) along with Creditstone and Keele stations. Later phases will extend the rapidway west to Highway 50 and east to Cornell Terminal, potentially to the Durham Region border at the York–Durham Line.

Stations

The Rapidway station at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station

Leslie Street Rapidway station under construction in May 2012

Rapidway stations feature heated shelters

There are 25 operating rapidway stations. All stations are built at-grade.

Stations [2]
Name	Opening date	Municipality	Service
Highway 50	TBA	Vaughan
Highway 427
Highway 27
Martin Grove
Kipling
Islington
Wigwoss–Helen	November 24, 2019 [3] [4]
Pine Valley
Ansley Grove
Weston
Commerce
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre	December 17, 2017 [5]
Creditstone	February 26, 2017 [6]
Keele
Dufferin	January 5, 2020 [7]
Taiga
Disera–Promenade
Atkinson
Bathurst	September 22, 2019 [8]
Richmond Hill Centre Terminal	N/A	Richmond Hill
Bayview	August 19, 2013 [9]	Markham, Richmond Hill
Chalmers
Valleymede
West Beaver Creek
Leslie
East Beaver Creek
Allstate Parkway	August 24, 2014	Markham
Woodbine
Montgomery
Town Centre
Cedarland	January 4, 2015
Warden	March 6, 2011
Andre De Grasse	TBA
University
Kennedy
Bullock
McCowan
Galsworthy
Main Street Markham
Wootten Way
Markham Stouffville Hospital
Cornell Terminal

Brampton Transit Züm Route 501 uses the rapidway between the Wigwoss–Helen and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations. ^[10]

Queen Street–Highway 7 BRT

Metrolinx exhibits
Map of Q7BRT route

In January 2023, Metrolinx proposed extending the rapidway 24 kilometres (15 mi) westwards along Highway 7 from Helen Street in Vaughan and continuing along Queen Street in Brampton to terminate at Mississauga Road. This would allow buses to travel in reserved lanes from the west end of Brampton to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Metrolinx has dubbed the project the Queen Street–Highway 7 BRT or Q7BRT. ^[11]

References

1. Marshall, Sean (September 12, 2013). "York Region's Rapidways: the good, the bad and the ugly". Spacing Toronto. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
2. "Project Map". vivanext. 2017-09-01.
3. "Highway 7 West Rapidway Now Open From Commerce To Wigwoss/Helen". www.yrt.ca. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
4. "Hwy 7 West Woodbridge" (PDF). vivanext. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
5. "Changes are coming to Vaughan". Vivanext . Retrieved November 7, 2017.
6. "Hwy 7 West VMC" (PDF). vivanext. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
7. "Viva Bus Rapid Transit Segments Opening in Vaughan and Newmarket". www.vivanext.com. January 3, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
8. "Viva Bus Rapid Transit Segment Opens Three Months Ahead of Schedule on Highway 7 in Richmond Hill and Vaughan". vivaNext. September 22, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
9. "Hwy 7 East" (PDF). vivanext. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
10. "501 Zum Queen Eastbound". Brampton Transit. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
11. "Introducing the proposed Queen Street-Highway 7 BRT project". Metrolinx. January 18, 2023. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023.