| Number: | Highway 7 Rapidway |
| Titlecolor: |
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| System: | Viva Rapid Transit |
| Locale: | York Region, Ontario (Vaughan; Richmond Hill; Markham) |
| Start: | Wigwoss–Helen |
| End: | Birchmount Road |
| Stations: | 25 |
| Open: | March 6, 2011 |
| Operator: | York Region Transit |
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.
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.
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]
In January 2023, Metrolinx proposed extending the rapidway 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]