The story
History
Prior to the inauguration of YRT in 2001, public transit in York Region (York County prior to 1971) was delivered by a patchwork of various operators in some of the lower-tier municipalities, with some cross-boundary services in more heavily urbanized areas. Most of the cross-boundary service was either GO Transit running "city"-type bus routes or the present TTC-contracted routes (with some being replaced with YRT routes or cancelled) coming north from Metropolitan Toronto or later (and present) Toronto. Gray Coach also provided some medium-distance commuter services.
Former inter-municipal services
Stagecoaches or omnibuses ran along Yonge Street to hotels in Richmond Hill from York (now Toronto) beginning in the 1820s. The Metropolitan Street Railway ran electric interurban streetcars on Yonge Street as far north as Keswick from 1897 to 1930. Publicly owned (via TTC) North Yonge Railways provided interurban service on Yonge Street from 1930 to 1948.
From 1948 to 1977, the Toronto Transit Commission (Toronto Transportation Commission before 1954) ran the North Yonge 59 bus route on Yonge. Other contracted TTC routes later followed on many other streets continuing from Metro Toronto. The North Yonge bus was replaced by GO Transit–operated Yonge C and B bus routes, with C providing local suburban bus service to Richmond Hill, and B providing service all the way to Newmarket until being replaced in turn by Viva Blue in 2010. Another local C route, starting in 1972, ran on Bayview Avenue as far as Richmond Hill.
Former local services
Before the 1970s, several private and public transit operators provided local transit services around York Region communities: These services were later replaced by the following municipally managed transit systems, with the earlier operators continuing to operate the new systems in some cases (the history of these predecessor local services are also described for each municipality).
Markham Transit
Markham Transit was created in 1973 and operated by Travelways and Miller Transit Limited after 1984 on behalf of the then–Town of Markham.
Richmond Hill Transit
Richmond Hill Transit was created in 1960 to provide public transit service in Richmond Hill. It was initially operated by Trailways of Canada Limited, then Travelways starting in 1976 and Laidlaw in the 1980s.
Vaughan Transit
Vaughan Transit operated from 1973 until the merger into YRT. Before (and for two years after) the creation of Vaughan Transit, transit service was provided to the community of Woodbridge by the TTC-operated 93 Woodbridge bus between 1954 and 1975. Prior to that, various private operators provided a similar service, starting in 1925. Even earlier, an interurban line served Woodbridge between 1913 and 1926.
Newmarket Transit
Newmarket Transit began sometime in the early 1970s as a contracted service from the town. Previously service was provide first by Newmarket Bus Lines circa 1948, renamed Newmarket Town Bus circa 1958, which ran to 1967.
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Aurora
Aurora Transit began operations in 1973, replacing Aurora Bus lines, which operated starting in the 1960s. Like Newmarket, Aurora was much smaller in size and population than other southern York Region municipalities, which benefited from connections to GO Transit and the TTC. Aurora Transit provided feeder service to GO Transit's commuter trains and buses as well as community bus service to town's major destinations.
A fare arrangement between Aurora Transit and GO Transit allowed passengers to use Aurora Transit tickets on GO Transit's "Route B" buses that provided local service on Yonge Street, provided the entire trip was within Aurora's town limits. Passengers travelling to the neighbouring Oak Ridges or Newmarket could still use Aurora Transit tickets with a cash supplement.
On August 30, 1998, Aurora Transit restructured its services into a single route with service in the southern part of the town provided by Richmond Hill Transit. At the same time, Newmarket Transit route 77/11 was extended south on Bayview Avenue to connect with Aurora Transit's only route at Bayview Shopping Centre. Aurora Transit ended its operations on September 4, 1999, when the transit service in the town was transferred to Newmarket Transit. The latter became part of the York Region Transit on January 1, 2001, when the four regional transit systems were merged.
Creation of YRT
YRT was created by the regional government in 2001 by amalgamating the four municipal transit authorities in the region as increasing urbanization made separate municipal transit agencies impractical. Viva was inaugurated in 2005.
In mid-2006, the YRT logo was modified to bear closer resemblance to the Viva logo and, by the end of the year, most of the YRT fleet and bus stop signs had their looks changed to bear the new colours.
2011–2012 labour strike
Starting on October 24, 2011, bus drivers and workers contracted by Miller Transit, First Student and York BRT Services (Veolia) started striking, protesting over wages and benefits for three months. Over 60 percent of YRT bus routes in York region and all Viva routes did not operate. YRT and Viva workers started picketing on December 5, 2011, at Finch-GO Terminal, YRT headquarters, South-West Division Garage, and Richmond Hill Centre Terminal. 96% of all YRT/Viva routes returned to service on February 4, 2012, and 98% of services were operational by February 6, 2012. Full YRT/Viva service resumed on February 27, 2012. To compensate riders for the three months of service disruptions, York Region Transit provided two months of free service, using the money saved by not having to pay striking workers.
From Wikipedia’s article on York Region Transit, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4