Viva Purple is a line on the Viva bus rapid transit system in York Region, Ontario, Canada. The route primarily runs in an east–west direction along a dedicated right-of-way, dubbed the Highway 7 Rapidway, in Markham and Richmond Hill. It is operated by Tok Transit under contract from York Region.
Route description
Viva Purple operates along Highway 7 from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal (at Yonge Street) in the west, to Cornell Terminal (east of Ninth Line) in the east.
Viva Purple also operates an 'A' branch along Enterprise Boulevard (serving Downtown Markham) between Town Centre Boulevard and Kennedy Road. Alternating buses serve this branch and the Highway 7 base route except during weekday rush hour.
Viva Purple connects with all other Viva lines except Viva Yellow. Currently, there are 27 stops (dubbed Vivastations) along the route. Viva Purple stops Name Opening date Municipality Major connections Richmond Hill CentreSeptember 4, 2005Richmond Hill Langstaff GO Bayview Markham/Richmond Hill Chalmers August 19, 2013 Valleymede September 4, 2005 West Beaver Creek Leslie East Beaver Creek Allstate Parkway Markham Woodbine Montgomery Town Centre Warden December 17, 2017 Village Parkway Sciberras Main Street Unionville September 1, 2019 Cedarland December 28, 2014 Warden/Enterprise November 20, 2005 Andre De Grasse February 5, 2017 University Boulevard November 20, 2005 Kennedy/Highway 7 October 16, 2005 Bullock McCowan Galsworthy September 5, 2010 Main Street Markham January 27, 2008 Wootten Way Markham Stouffville HospitalCornell TerminalSeptember 4, 2022
Notes Stop served by 'A' branch (via Enterprise Blvd.) only
Stop served by base route (via Highway 7) only
Eastbound only
Route history Viva Purple has seen considerable changes since it began service on September 4, 2005:
It originally ran from York University in Toronto, via the City of Vaughan , to Town Centre Boulevard. It was extended east to McCowan Road on October 16, 2005. Rush hour service was extended west of York University to Martin Grove Road beginning November 20 of that year. On September 2, 2007, the peak service west of York University was discontinued as the overlapping service with Viva Orange turned out to be excessive. The route was extended east of McCowan Road to Markham Stouffville Hospital on January 27, 2008.
On December 17, 2017, the route was given a Toronto subway connection at York University when the namesake York University Station opened upon completion of the northward extension of the western branch of Line 1 Yonge–University. The branch along Highway 7 (bypassing the Downtown Markham routing via Enterprise Boulevard) was also established at this time.
On September 2, 2018, service to York University and the subway was discontinued when Viva Purple was cut back again to Richmond Hill Centre Terminal.
On September 5, 2021, the original route (along Enterprise Boulevard) was designated as the 'A' branch (Viva Purple 'A'), and the later branch (along Highway 7) was designated as the base route. On September 4, 2022, the eastern terminus was extended to the new Cornell Terminal.
Rapidway
The Viva Purple line follows the aforementioned Highway 7 Rapidway dedicated right-of-way for most of its route. Eventually, the entire Highway 7 Corridor could be upgraded to light rail transit.
References