York Region Transit ex-Markham Orion V Charter - The Day In Summary

By: Calvin So

I thought I'd post the summary of our charter held on April 18, for the people who missed out on the fun. This blog post will summarize the events before the charter, the charter routing, and my comments on how the charter went.

The charter's suspense started Saturday late night, when I received an email saying 2053 was out of service, and 2054 was going to be used instead. I was fine with that, since there really isn't much of a difference between the two buses.

I arrived at Miller Yard at 10:45 AM that morning with fellow organizer James Trinh, after checking out one final photostop at the Markham Civic Centre to see how the bus would fit in the parking spaces (due to the fact I was unable to find a good parking spot when I drove the routing on Friday). I was welcomed by charter driver Donovan arriving about 5 minutes after, and I was invited into the shops, where I met Miller dispatcher Tracy and Paul. From there, we inspected 2054 to make sure everything is alright, and we brought the bus out promptly at 11:05 AM.

At that time, more charter attendants have arrived, particularly those who are doing the shuttle car runs with me at Don Mills and Steeles. We left Miller Yard at 11:10 AM, arriving at Don Mills and Steeles exactly at 11:20 AM. 7 out of the expected 9 people showed up, but due to the tight scheduling (and my fair share of warnings given), we left immediately and told the other 2 to take the 224B up to Esna Park to meet us.

At 11:25 AM, fellow organizer Andrew Crawford received a call from James, saying 2054's battery died. While I originally panicked (as 2053 was deemed out of service), he also told him Miller managed to get 2053 starting, and that will be our charter bus. In addition, we managed to remove the rollsign disc stuck inside the sign, and I gave it to James as a souvenir.

Arriving back at the yard at 11:35 AM, I was welcomed by the arrival of 2053. A lot of charter attendants requested doing a group photo at the spot right now (even though not everyone arrived yet). I decided to go for it, as it would be the only chance I can get 2053 beside 2054 with good sun angle. I had Paul take the photo, with Donovan posing in the middle along with 16 of us surrounding 2053 and 2054.

While entering 2053, a charter attendant noticed a large pool of water by the middle of the bus. Seeing as how we still have time to kill, Donovan decided to get a mop and mopped the water off the bus. With the puddle gone, we were all set to go.

We left Miller at exactly 12:03 PM, 2 minutes earlier than expected, so we can pick up the leftover people at Esna Park and Woodbine. We met the 224B at 12:08 PM, though only 1 person showed up (instead of the expected 2). I later found out the last person was not feeling well, and had to back out the last minute.

We went south on Woodbine, and east on Esna Park at this point. The charter then went northeast on Alden Road, and east on 14th Avenue, to trace the 2A routing. Our first photo stop was at 14th Avenue by the CN Uxbridge/GO bridge. This used to be an at-grade crossing, but was converted to a bridge last year. The photo stop would also get a good view of the "business" side of 14th Avenue, as anything east of it would be residential.

Already at this point, I noticed my timings are going to be more off than I imagined. I originally put 7 minutes into this stop, but we ended up stopping for only 3 minutes. To make up for the time gained, I decided to improvise a stop at Middlefield and Highglen, in front of Middlefield Collegiate Institute. The stop here is served by one trip on the route 2 for each rush hour. It is meant as a school special for students attending MCI. We arrived at 11:25 AM, and left at 11:30 AM.

Off to the second planned photostop (third photostop of the day), which was only about 2 minutes away at Denison and Middlefield. I planned to meet the eastbound  route 2 that was supposed to pass by at 12:42 PM. Unfortunately, we arrived about 5 minutes earlier than planned, at 12:32 PM. Since I was reluctant to skipping the meet with route 2, I decided to go ahead and wait for the 10 minutes until the 2 arrived. We decided to put some different signs in that photo stop, to waste some time before the 2 arrived. At exactly 12:44 PM, 933 passed by eastbound on the 2. After people taking pictures of the two side by side, we left immediately.

We proceeded east on Denison, we went south on Coxworth and east on Elson (we decided against racing 933). This traces part of the new route 203 routing, along with the reversal of the westbound route 2 routing. When we approached Markham Road, a charter attendant noticed TTC 7015 on the 53B laying over. Donovan decided to get off the bus and try to persuade the driver of 7015 to have a side-by-side pose. He agreed to it, so we all got off the bus, and Donovan posed 2053 beside 7015. While the sun angle wasn't the greatest, it definitely was worth a photo stop as it would be very rare to have a 1991 V beside a 1996 V in the future.

We went north on Markham Road, which becomes Main Street Markham north of Highway 407. As we passed Highway 7, we entered our first heritage district of the charter: Markham Village. Due to the high amount of traffic, we drove by there without passing 40 km/h. We turned east on Robinson Street, where Donovan showed us the ability of his quick hands, as Robinson Street is an extremely narrow road east of Main Street Markham. Heading east on Robinson, east on Joseph, north on Maple, and east on Church (tracing the route 1), Donovan showed us more of his ability, as these turns were narrow and quick in succession. Without further ado, we finally approached the next photo stop; Markham District High School.

The original photo stop location was the student parking lot at the east end of MDHS. However, Andrew researched that area earlier, and noticed that area was fenced off for demolition. Therefore, I decided to put the photo stop at the entrance to the drop off zone, having the bus face southeast with the ravine in the background. We arrived at 1:05 PM, which was right on schedule. The sign we put was the 409 MDHS via Bur Oak, as that was the most frequent route to see the ex-Markham Vs.

Leaving the photostop at 1:09 PM, we went straight on Church until Butternut Lane, where we entered the Markham-Stouffville Hospital loop. This loop is only served by the 9, 18, and 522. All other routes serving MSH use only Church Street. We put the 9 9th Line sign up, as a comical idea on how I erroneously saw 2054 on the 9 last winter. Arriving at 1:13 PM, I informed everyone there would be a Viva Purple and a route 1 coming eastbound. Sure enough, an A330 and 936 passed by eastbound in less than a minute.

Circling the MSH loop, we continued east on Church, and north on Bur Oak, where we encountered the first "passenger caught off guard". She gave an "arms wide open" signal, wondering why we passed the stop without picking her up. In reality, route 85 (the route that serves the bus stop) was supposed to show up in 15 minutes. Having a bit of laughter after that incident, we turned east on 16th Avenue, where I made the first major mistake of the charter. My original intent was to have the next photostop at White's Hill just east of Cornell Centre. However, I accidentally told Donovan to turn at Cornell Centre, instead of Cornell Rouge (the intended place to turn right). Realizing I made the mistake when we were at White's Hill, I quickly tried to look for a place to pose the bus. Ultimately, I chose White's Hill and Bur Oak. We arrived at 1:25 PM, and I put the 85 via White's Hill sign to pose with.

Before leaving, I double checked the stop where the confused passenger was standing, and I noticed she was walking away from the stop. So once we turn north on Bur Oak, she wouldn't bother chasing after the bus, right? Wrong. As we passed by her for a second time, she ran for the bus again, even though me and Donovan pointed to the sign, which said "Charter". Once again the charter attendants had a second laugh over that incident.

Continuing north (and then west) on Bur Oak, we arrived at Mount Joy GO Station, our next photostop. To take advantage of the lack of cars in the parking lot and the sun angle, I told Donovan to go right into the parking lot instead of having the photostop at the loop. We posed the bus in front of the station house, with the GO tracks to the right. However, one of the charter attendants told me the front pole was blocking part of the front of the bus. Therefore, Donovan decided to have the bus face a little more to the south, instead of the current southeast position.

A lot of people are now complaining on how they need the washroom (or at least something to eat). While I did warn that there was to be no lunch stop scheduled, I decided to tell everyone that there was a snack stall inside Angus Glen Community Centre, where the intended washroom stop was going to be. Arriving there at 1:55 PM via Bur Oak, Highway 48, and Major Mackenzie Drive, I told everyone to arrive back at the bus at 2:20 PM. To my amazement, no one took a photo of 2053 at the west entrance to Angus Glen CC except me and one other charter attendant. Oh well.

After pulling into the layover bay, Donovan turned the bus off, and we all proceeded into the community centre. While I was inside the community centre, I was informed of a possible photo stop at the east end near the library. Realizing almost everyone was finished with the washroom break and buying their snacks, I decided to check out the stop. While I initially objected to it due to heavy car traffic, I noticed the cars were departing in rapid succession (due to the fact the loop was meant to drop off library books only). Therefore, I decided to risk it and called James and Donovan to bring 2053 over to the east side of Angus Glen. Sure enough, the photo stop turned out better than I expected, as we got the library, pool, and the flags in the background of 2053. However, the stop was short lived, as there was a large amount of car traffic stuck behind 2053. After unsuccessfully looping a few times to clear out the traffic, Donovan decided to take 2053 back to the west side of Angus Glen. The people outside (including me) decided to take the opportunity to do a video shoot of 2053 passing by Major Mackenzie.

As we were walking back to the west side of Angus Glen, probably one of the highlights of the charter occurred. A Canadian goose appeared and decided to block our way, which made a charter attendant decide to take some photos of the goose. However, this made the goose rather unhappy, as it started chasing after him. The people outside had a good laugh, as we never realized how aggressive geese can be. Realizing that time was becoming an issue, we quickly ran back to 2053, when we noticed TTC 7581 on the 68B laying over behind it. We decided to take photos of both the buses together, then we were finally on our way at exactly 2:26 PM.

The next photostop took us east on Major Mackenzie, and south on Kennedy to School House Road, where I was expecting a route 8 to show up. Arriving at 2:29 PM, I was determined the route 8 did not pass by yet. Sure enough 2 minutes later, 937 showed up on route 8. While the driver was originally confused on what's happening, Donovan proudly told him that we were transit enthusiasts, and we are interested in having the buses side by side. He happily agreed to it, and slowly drove 937 beside 2053, while we all took photos of it. Departing 2053, the driver gave a wave to us, and we all waved back in happiness.

Heading west on School House Road, north on Prospector's, and west on Major Mackenzie, it was time for an exciting part of the charter; a ride through a NIMBY neighbourhood. However, I was told not to enter Cachet Parkway, where we would see some of the biggest and richest houses in Markham. Therefore, I told Donovan to head south on Warden instead, and drove right through the valley and hills between Major Mackenzie and 16th Avenue. We had a rather bouncy ride, which people sitting at the back enjoyed thoroughly. Finally, we approached the peak of the hill just north of 16th Avenue at 2:40 PM, where Donovan stopped the bus for us to get a background of the hill. There was a route 85 that would be heading eastbound at this time, but the sun angle would have ruined the shot anyway, so I did not announce it.

Time to hit the highway! As we turned west on 16th Avenue, I informed everyone we were entering a highway portion. In excitement, a handful of charter members approached the front of  the bus, hoping to get a front video of 2053 on the highway. Everyone started their videos at 16th and Woodbine (and probably got a video of a black Porsche Carrera turning right as the light turned green). We entered Highway 404, heading northbound for 8km to Stouffville Road, where we exited and headed west. I originally planned to have the highway portion end at Elgin Mills, but due to the fact I was denied having the charter on Highway 407, I decided to extend the Highway 404 portion 4 more kms. As we were waiting at the Leslie light, Donovan was greeted with a round of applause from all the charter attendants. Heading south on Leslie, we approached some rough terrain, as that portion of Leslie Street has not been paved for decades. Turning west on William F. Bell, we arrived at Richmond Green, our next photostop. Seeing on how the parking lot was empty, I decided to pose the school as the background, mainly due to the fact my original location would have no background, and for the fact my girlfriend used to go to Richmond Green, and I figure the photo would give her good memories of her high school.

Due to the abundance of heights around the photo location, a lot of different heights were experimented. Some attendants took the photo at a medium angle, while others used a low angle, and some others used a ground angle. In addition, I also noticed some people standing on the foot of the light stands, trying to get some high angles of the bus. Others took photos of the bus close up, while a few people even used the wide open space to try different backgrounds. Overall, this stop was probably the most well done in terms of variety and sun angle.

We were 5 minutes up leaving Richmond Green, when I decided to throw out the rest of the schedule, and proceed the charter intellectually. I decided to drop the meet with route 41 at Raymerville, to minimize time there and possibly improvise another photo stop at Warden and Enterprise. Little did I know a second factor was about to occur, which I will discuss later.

Heading back to Leslie Street, we went east on Elgin Mills, where we passed by a quaint intersection community called Victoria Square. We turned south on Woodbine, where I informed everyone of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, which is the mysterious cathedral that become a landmark of the subdivision of Cathedraltown. Donovan slowed down the bus in case people wanted to take photos of the cathedral. Continuing south on Woodbine, we went east on Calvert, hoping to influence Donovan to drive by my home street (which I failed to). We went south on Rodick and west/south on John Button, where we were welcomed by speed bumps and a second confused passenger. Turning east on Apple Creek and south on Town Centre, we approached the Markham Civic Centre. After observing the area in the morning, I told Donovan to pose the bus by the Unionville entrance, as my original location was closed off due to construction. In addition, with the 40 Unionville Local sign displayed, it only makes sense to pose by there. After all the photos were taken, we took the group photo, with all 20 attendants being in the shot. Unfortunately, Donovan had to take the group photo, due to the fact the person who was supposed to bring the tripod never showed up. Nevertheless, we already took a group photo with Donovan earlier, so he didn't mind.

With the group photo out of the way, it is time to quickly finish off the last few photostops. We went south on Town Centre Boulevard, east on Highway 7, north and east on Bullock, north on Snider, and west on Raymerville, where we approached a forested area just west of Norwich Drive. When I got off the bus, I expected the sun to shine at the driver's side. Oops...it was shining at the door side instead, with a considerable amount of shadows evident there. However, I did manage to get a rather interesting photo of 2053 "hiding behind a tree", which I found rather interesting. Donovan also had fun with the nature around the photostop, which reminded him of his favourite vacation area: Algonquin Park.

Departing Raymerville and Norwich, we continued west on Raymerville, which became Carlton Road west of McCowan. We then went south on Main Street Unionville, where we passed through the second of the historical districts: Unionville. This district was considerably busier and more lively than at Markham Village, therefore everyone was told to keep quiet, to prevent from attracting attention. Heading south past Highway 7, we approached our final photostop, at Main Street Unionville near Bill Crothers Secondary.

It was past 4:00 PM, and everyone started making dinner plans. We planned a charter dinner beforehand at Frankie Tomato's, so we dialed to make a reservation. However, all reservations were full after 5:00 PM, which means I had to end the charter immediately if I were to do a yard visit. Realizing I was hungry (along with most dinner attendants), I cancelled my improvised stop at Warden and Enterprise, and went straight back to Miller via the "back entrance", heading west on Enterprise, north on Warden, west on Clegg, south on Rodick, west on Miller, and west on Burncrest. We arrived at 4:25 PM, and quickly began the yard visit.

Observing around the yard, I was informed by a fellow charter attendant of 013 with a rack onboard. I decided to go take a look, and sure enough 013 was the Miller bike rack demonstrator. Beside 013 was 011, which was the only Orion V in operation that had no left ad (302 was the other one, but it was out of service due to an accident in the past week). Donovan took 011 to the west end of Miller to pose, where we were greeted by some charter attendants who wanted to take pictures of the 2000 ex-GO Orion V.

After finding some interesting signs (210 Lunch Express, 77 Highway 7-Centre via Clark, 98/99 Yonge Street), it was time to call the yard visit a close. 5:00 PM has struck, and it is time to head to dinner, and our separate ways.

At the end, a total of 17 photostops were made, with 4 being improvised.

I would like to thank the following people for the success of this charter:
- James Trinh, Andrew Crawford, and Wilson Lo who helped me plan the charter routing and photo stops. It was unfortunate Wilson Lo was unable to attend, as this one would be his first full charter (the first charter he attended, he exited halfway due to work).
- Our charter driver, Donovan, for volunteering his time and sacrificing his Sunday shift in order to drive the charter for us. He also sacrificed his habit of sleeping in mornings just to drive for us, and I congratulate him even more for that. In return, some charter attendants gave him a hefty tip for his excellent effort.
- Sandy Aivaliotis, John Stevens, David Alexander, and Lynn Yuile for allowing Donovan to drive the charter and giving the charter a discount rate due to Donovan volunteering to drive for free.
- Ryan Tilley and David Vincent for being my charter advisors, and helping me with the positioning of buses to support the sun angle.

Hopefully we'll see all of you again at the SLF charter coming up in August!