Whitchurch-Stouffville Newspaper Index

Stouffville Sun-Tribune (Stouffville, ON), December 17, 2005, p. 3

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economist sunsuntribune taking the bus saturday dec 17 2005 yrt vs measure up newmarket resident rode yrt in july and then viva this month heres his account of the experience york region transit viva by brian dundas ometime back in june prior to the launch of york regions viva rapid transit system i decided to give public transit a shot my admittedly limited logic went like this i live and work in york region gas prices are skyrocketing we have a transit system ah the comforts of civilization if this works out i can ditch the car save gas money and the earth although the trek from newmarket to woodbridge would require a go transityrt link it was still only two buses to travel roughly 35 kilometres pretty good i figured and with an invigo rating early morning bike ride to the terminal and a leisurely 15- minute stroll to the office id be getting my workout to boot i picked a lovely day in mid- july after 15 minutes of pedalling i was at the depot intensely proud and frankly rather in love with myself springing proudly aboard the planetsaving vessel i asked the driver for a ticket he looked at me as if i was wearing size32 yel low sneakers and said i had to purchase one at the station kiosk i nearly choked when i found out it would cost me 465 oneway to hillcrest mall in rich mond hill at which point i would have the opportunity to pay 225 to take yrt to islington avenue along rutherford road so its expensive oh well i wouldnt be doing this every day maybe just on smog days when the govern ment asks me to help spare the air the express bus makes four stops one of these is hill- crest mall where i would be meeting the ruther ford yrt as we approached the mall i realized i didnt know how to get off the bus all i saw was a series of buttons with a red sto and r thats pre cisely when i began to think too hard what if these are emergency stop buttons i won dered rather stupidly since id already informed the driver i was dismounting at the mall i figured hed stop about three blocks past the mall i told him meekly that id wanted to get off back there you didnt ring the bell i didnt know i was standing right behind you youll have to wait until langstaff he informed me i got real ticked off i suggested he and his mother must both be very proud of his cus tomer service prowess this tactic worked and he let me off the bus a mere kilometre south of the mall now i was facing a 25minute wait for the next bus the afternoon ride was equally trying i waited 20 minutes at a bus stop in 35c heat fortunately there was a row of maple saplings each with about four branches and 20 leaves on them as i crouched in the shade of one waiting another 20 minutes thinking how id rather be slaving on the transcontinental railway than taking public transit in york region ah what a rube id been taken for after a fivehour com mute and 1380 this wasnt an option for me perhapsvivaismy answer ill have to try it and see he looked at me as if i was wearing size32 yellow sneakers and said i had to purchase my ticket at the station kiosk staff photosjoerd witteveen newmarket resident and commuter brian dundas gets on the york region transit bus in july and rides it to his job in vaughan he waited until viva got rolling in newmarket and compared the two experiences as einstein once concluded rapid is a relative term so it turns out is rapid transit yrt took five hours commuting time and 1380 i wanted to see if things had gotten any better for a commuter living and work ing in york region in the past five months first i walked 15 min utes and arrived at the spiffy viva stop at mulock drive and yonge street only to be confronted with a hal 2000like vending sys tem i took on the techno logical challenge and it was pleasantly surprising if theres one thing about the viva system its easy to operate using a simple touch screen i purchased a ticket unfortunately the system doesnt provide change so i ended up pay ing 4 for the 325 fare to richmond hill i must have just missed the bus because a digital sign above hal told me i had 10 minutes to wait i liked the timer know ing i had 10 minutes took all of the niggling anxiety and pointless staring-up- theroad out of the equa tion i think this feature is particularly useful in win ter as it gives you some idea on how much clothing youll need to stave off hypothermia leaping aboard the stretchy viva capsule i cau tiously asked a woman operator with a lovely jamaican accent for a transfer youre holding it she said with a smile in refer ence to my ticket relieved she didnt ridicule me for being a neophyte i practi cally skipped down the aisle and sat in the back the bus was nearly empty now the way viva has been promoted i half expected playboy bunnies serving coffee while it wasnt quite like that it really was darn nice at first trekking south in our little viva pod com fortable chairs roomy aisles i looked for the fabled computer worktables and found them unoccupied i wondered how long before they ripped them out and put in normal seats the new bus purred and resonated a white noise that nearly put me to sleep at one point i was almost irrevocably vivatized at oak ridges though like a drop of water falling in that old hamlets hum- ber river headwater lakes the viva experience started downhill and fast richmond hill i found has clogged arteries per sonally i suspect dining on fat development deals to be the culprit but whatever the reason progress down yonge street slowed to the pace of a cbc labour nego tiation oh it wasnt the fault of the bus thats for sure but rapid transit this was not finally arriving at hill- crest mail i said goodbye to the viva and hello to the portion of the trip governed by the old yrt system i quickly found the rutherford road yrt bus to be as problematic as ever i knew there was some thing up when i saw 15 people waiting for the west bound bus normally there are two or three fortunately my timing wasnt that bad the transit gods were in a generous mood because the bus arrived the ride from hill- crest to islington avenue was the usual slog but much quicker than yonge arriving at islington i took my 15minute walk to work and checked my watch one last time it had taken 212 hours the same as the old sys tem though the cost was now just 650 so that about sums it up i propose the rapid dele tion of all references to the word rapid it all reminds me of something else from einstein he once said i never think of the future it comes soon enough not on viva it dont fmarkham jg brown the musical jan 182006 s3 v jan 21 2006 aprl cisfmierti irf v- wgfeeim gordon i llghtfooti sveabundle mi smci two snows np git two tons ro two snows ir si plus receive one free c of markham theatres valueadded coupon book some terms conditions apply a m88 valul call today for details 905305showj7469

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