Highway 7 Rapidway
Warden Vivastation
Overview
System	Viva Rapid Transit
Operator	York Region Transit
Began service	March 6, 2011
Route
Locale	York Region, Ontario (Vaughan; Richmond Hill; Markham)
Start	Wigwoss–Helen
End	Birchmount Road
Stations	25
Route map Wigwoss–Helen Pine Valley Ansley Grove Weston Highway 400 Commerce Vaughan Creditstone Canadian National Railway MacMillan Yard Keele Barrie line Highway 407 Dufferin Taiga Disera–Promenade Atkinson Highway 407 Bathurst Yonge Street Rapidway Richmond Hill Centre Yonge North extension Langstaff GO Richmond Hill line Bayview Chalmers Valleymede West Beaver Creek Highway 404 Leslie East Beaver Creek Allstate Parkway Woodbine Montgomery Town Centre Cedarland Warden Andre De Grasse University Unionville GO Stouffville line ← {{{previous_line}}}  {{{system_nav}}}  {{{next_line}}} →

The Highway 7 Rapidway in York Region, Ontario, Canada, is a bus rapid transit right-of-way that runs 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 Viva Purple, Viva Pink, 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.

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).^[1]

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

The Rapidway station at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station

Leslie Street Rapidway station under construction in May 2012

Rapidway stations feature heated shelters

There are 25 operating rapidway stations. All stations are built at-grade.

Stations[2]
Name	Opening date	Municipality	Service
Highway 50	TBA	Vaughan
Highway 427
Highway 27
Martin Grove
Kipling
Islington
Wigwoss–Helen	November 24, 2019[3][4]
Pine Valley
Ansley Grove
Weston
Commerce
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre	December 17, 2017[5]
Creditstone	February 26, 2017[6]
Keele
Dufferin	January 5, 2020[7]
Taiga
Disera–Promenade
Atkinson
Bathurst	September 22, 2019[8]
Richmond Hill Centre Terminal	N/A	Richmond Hill
Bayview	August 19, 2013[9]	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 Grasse	TBA
University
Kennedy
Bullock
McCowan
Galsworthy
Main Street Markham
Wootten Way
Markham Stouffville Hospital
Cornell Terminal

Brampton Transit Züm Route 501 uses the rapidway between the Wigwoss–Helen and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations.^[10]

Queen Street–Highway 7 BRT

Metrolinx exhibits
Map of Q7BRT route

In January 2023, Metrolinx proposed extending the rapidway 24 kilometres (15 mi) westwards along Highway 7 from Helen Street in Vaughan and continuing along Queen Street in Brampton to terminate 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.^[11]

References

External links