The Highway 7 Rapidway in York Region, Ontario, Canada, is a bus rapid transit right-of-way that runs along Highway 7 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.
History 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).
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
There are 25 operating rapidway stations. All stations are built at-grade.
Stations Name Opening date Municipality Service Highway 50 TBA Vaughan Highway 427 Highway 27 Martin Grove Kipling Islington Wigwoss–HelenNovember 24, 2019 Pine Valley Ansley Grove Weston Commerce Vaughan Metropolitan Centre December 17, 2017 Creditstone February 26, 2017 Keele Dufferin January 5, 2020 Taiga Disera–Promenade Atkinson BathurstSeptember 22, 2019 Richmond Hill Centre Terminal N/A Richmond Hill Bayview August 19, 2013 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 GrasseTBA University Kennedy Bullock McCowan Galsworthy Main Street MarkhamWootten WayMarkham Stouffville Hospital Cornell Terminal
Brampton Transit Züm Route 501 uses the rapidway between the Wigwoss–Helen and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations.
Queen Street–Highway 7 BRT
In January 2023, Metrolinx proposed extending the rapidway westwards along Highway 7 from Helen Street in Vaughan to Highway 50 and then into Brampton along Queen Street, terminating 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.
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