As Shawn, Shima, and Jason already know, I take any chance to take VIVA— since I just love it too much, and I must show my support.

I met up with my sister tonight after work to take VIVA to further goign on our gluttony ways and eat at First Markham and get my bookstore fix at Chapters.

This is the first time I took VIVA during rush hour, and definitely it is a totally difference experience than my leisure trips on the weekend. Here are some of my trips highlights:

• Finch Station VIVA Guides
• Lots of VIVA Riders(!!!)
• Colour route names is not a good idea
• Video Screens
• Damn Traffic
• Dirty Seats

Finch Station VIVA Guides
YRT/VIVA has hired half a dozen VIVA Guides at the GO-Finch Terminal, just to promote VIVA, ensure that people are aware of the OneRide and MultiRide automated machines, and answer bus route questions.

This is totally what they need, because I continue to witness a lot of people not knowing what VIVA is, and wait for the regular Highway 7 Route, for example. I hope these VIVA Guides spread the good news to the York people.
 

Lots of VIVA Riders(!!!)
This makes me feel quite jolly inside. The VIVA Blue Line (Finch Stn. - Newmarket Terminal) was almost out of seats when I was on it, bearing in mind that the VIVA Blue line uses the extra long 18-metre articulated buses.
 

Colour route names is not a good idea
VIVA Routes are represented by colour: Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple. On VIVA Bus route signs, it lists just that: “VIVA Green,” for example.

As much as it is a creative way to distingish “rapid” and “non-rapid” bus routes, what VIVA has neglected is that York Region is a magnet of new immigrants who may not be able to read English well. My former nanny understands that Route 53 is a Steeles Bus, because of what Lindsay Lohan so eloquently said in Mean Girls:

[Math] is the same in every country.

VIVA should either place a complementary number to its routes, or actually depict the colour of the route on its buses.
 

Video Screens
VIVA promised video screens on its buses, and they are slowly being implemented on buses on VIVA Blue. They are affixed high on the wall just behind the bus operator. The screen interface and size is similar to those new colour ONESTOP Network screens on TTC Subway platforms— with the same CP24 look.

Damn Traffic
One of VIVA’s taglines on their website is: Traffic? What Traffic?

Right.

There are a few trouble spots where VIVA seriously comes to a halt: (1) along Yonge Street and (2) around the Beaver Creek “CBD”. As much as it is exciting to see medium-rise office towers around Highway 7 and Leslie, the traffic around that area is horrendous— as everyone is ragingly eager to get their one-occupant car on the 404/407.

We definitely need put the ‘rapid’ in rapid transit to service this area to make it sustainable. Sure the “Queue Jump Lanes” help a bit but a VIVA dedicated right-of-way will be the icing on the cherry.
 

Dirty Seats
Just after 4 months of operations, the seats are already starting to look kind of dirty. Could you fully blame the passengers though? The seats are coloured moderately-light blue. If my mom saw the seats, she would right off the bat mention how it’s so “ng kum woo jo” or “not resistant to dirt.” Anyways, becuase some seats on VIVA are positioned face-to-face (a la GO Train), it automatically becomes a footrest for some passengers— and thus causing this awful brown salt stain.

VIVA Bus Rapid Transit - [wikipedia.org]

Someone lately has been tampering with the integrity of the VIVA Wiki information, and I read about information related to a VIVA White and VIVA Black line to be implemented in future phases along John Street - Denison Street— among some others. This is completely false, and has since been taken off.