York Region Transit

York Region Transit is a transit system serving the Regional Municipality of York, located north of Toronto. Unlike other real-life based groups, this agency has been attempted to be replicated on ROBLOX several times by different users.

The First Attempt (2012)
The first version of the group was run from 2012 to 2015 by TobyOH (then Tobes9999). This group was essentially a subsidiary of TTA and ran various buses- the majority of the 2002-2003 Orion Vs and some fictional models- such as a 2007 NovaBUS LFS and a New Flyer XD60. Most operations took place on route 99 and Viva Blue- the busiest corridor in the system other than route 20. A few old livery buses were also operated- being 2002 model Orion Vs.

The most notable operations were Viva buses being used on conventional services, which happened in real life during a transit strike in late 2011 and early 2012.

Service eventually got held after TobyOH placed most of his focus on TTA, his main group- some of the TTA's divisions do have some York Region influence- with the bus lanes, fleet numbering and the 2015-2016 bus livery, being based off York Region Transit. TTA's bus stops are also based on York Region ones. The group, however, has since gone defunct.

Second Attempt (2016-2017)
In late 2016, BUSESVI (now Lex_RD) attempted to create a more up-to-date version of York Region Transit services, with a diverse fleet and to continue from where TobyOH's group had left off. Unlike the previous attempt, they used arcade-style buses and updated the fleet. Vehicles included converted (ex-Viva) VanHool A330s and 2003 Orion Vs. The group also attempted to model 30' Eldorado EZ Rider II buses with this scheme- a first for the agency. They were built by Lex_RD.

Known as "York Region Transit/Viva" to simulate the real-life company, the group attempted to operate Southeast (Miller Transit) Division. The map was created by Buildingfaninfinity. Development was eventually halted to focus on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) group and the agency has since closed. The group never made it to the public, since the map was heavily in development.

Third Attempt (2017-2020)
The third attempt began in 2017 following the closure of Lex_RD’s group. Formerly operated under the Isaac Transit Commission, isaacbeyo resumed YRT operations by building a 2016 NovaBUS LFS and for the first time, a New Flyer D40LFR using a free model.

Eventually, isaacbeyo made New Flyer D40LFs, 2003 Orion Vs, 2014 New Flyer "Xcelsior" XD40s, a 40' NovaBUS LFS and VanHool A330s for Viva and YRT service. These buses would continue development on a new Southwest Division, originally operating from North York Division. Later, Nucieux joined forces with isaacbeyo to build the Southwest Division, where both users were based out of. On August 24, 2017, the new Southwest Division opened to service, starting with route 88. Service was later expanded with routes 5 and 23, then with part of 77 and later, routes 3 and 10 were added to increase the number of available routes. Despite the plans to have Viva in the map, the VanHool models were not added due to controversy outside of operations.

Another first came in late 2017 when TTC's route 160 and 60 services were added to the map. This was the first time a route bordering York Region and a contracted Toronto route were simulated in a YRT map.

In late 2017, buses were rebuilt with a new chassis that was applied to Fairview vehicles. Most buses had non-synchronized sounds and were much larger, using the Orion V, New Flyer D40LF and Orion VI. In addition, the agency built Orion VI #9701, the oldest vehicle in the agency that had the new livery. Buses were not equipped with bike racks at the time. However, the Orion Vs and VI had synchronized sounds.

Following the change, revenue service buses were equipped with next stop systems, which showed text pertaining to the stop a bus was approaching when activated. When buses approached some stops, an actual recording of the "For your safety, please stay seated and hold on until the bus comes to a complete stop" announcements were also broadcast in the buses. This added more realism to the game and became a defining feature.

In early 2018, all buses were sent for a rebuild, with New Flyer D40LFs returning equipped with the new dynamic-steering chassis. These buses, representing 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 model years were put into service with synchronized sounds, along with new features. They were run on all routes and the yard, originally in the Finch Station layover area was moved to a new facility to increase storage space. A D40LF with TTC specifications was later added for the TTC routes in-game. However, the other models did not return for the new chassis.

Service was suspended in July 2018 and all vehicles had to be rebuilt again, following the Filtering Enabled requirement and PGS being forced on all ROBLOX games. The rest of the buses that were not rebuilt are expected to return once the chassis can be completed for Fairview Transit models.

In October 2018, buses returned to service for the first time after being converted to PGS and FE compliance, with Fairview Transit operating the division. Models that were returned to service carried alliance stickers- later to receive new displays, proper orientation of the logo on the right side and bike racks. Fairview Transit operates the map as its own and requires people to be in its group to drive. However, this cannot & continues to fail to replace the original York Region Transit, as Viva services were not maintained. The agency was shut down in 2019 following FT choosing to consolidate its maps and the project being abandoned, while the buses were reassigned to FT's other maps. In December 2020, the former HRs that made operations possible resigned after NightlyBasis stepped down, closing the map for good. Isaac Transit Commission, which operated the map under contract to Fairview has also gone defunct. While TTS attempted to reintroduce the concept with another map, the idea was left neglected until March 2022 after FT changed ownership twice, then went with the failed fourth generation models.

Recent Attempts (2021-present)
In January 2021, as part of Toronto Transit Systems and a child company York Regional Transportation, iiResistanceYT attempted to restart YRT operations. YRT consists of a fleet of 2003 Orion Vs (although today, the fleet is more varied in real life), meanwhile TTS operates NovaBUS LFS HEV's and Orion VII OG HEV's. The division was replicating FT/ITC's old Southwest Division. Upon release the division was under the name of "Keele Division", but then was later finally changed to "Southwest Division". The division is shared with both groups and includes various TTC routes, and two YRT routes. However, the division does not get utilized much due to the long run times. (Note: It is known that you cannot operate a YRT bus if only employed at TTS, same goes in reverse.) While it did get to development and had runs mainly using the TTC/TTS fleet, YRT itself did not have an actual run, all of its planned runs were cancelled according to Transitfan7444. At the same time, TTS is more focused on its TTC based routes and did not further commit to operating its subsidiary group.

In addition, Evergreen Transit has also begun a project on replicating YRT's Southeast Division which is expected to be open to the public, although it is still under construction and not too much progress has been completed. Meanwhile, a similar group, using a WAVE XD40 and based on Southeast Division was set up but it too did not get far in development.

In early 2022, another group, based on the Southwest Division began operations and plans to extend an existing TTC map with three routes: 5- Clark, 23- Thornhill Woods and 105- Dufferin through an alliance with yom_3i's group, using its Wilson Division as the base. This group currently has New Flyer D40LFs but it is unknown if they plan on adding more models. Again, this idea was partially based off the FT/ITC map but on a smaller scale.

In March 2022, trainswing bought the the former ITC/FT Southwest Division map and vehicles from NightlyBasis, reviving the concept using the existing, yet outdated Gen 3 buses. These will be replaced with Van Hool A330s and improved New Flyer D40LFs in a bid to bring all vehicles up to 2022 standard, while keeping the map in its original standard. As of March 13, 2022, most of the older 3rd generation buses have been retired, while other models could be added as deemed fit. This group would officially succeed FT in the operation and its bid to return an old map to revamped glory.

Trivia

 * Out of any group created, none have attempted to simulate the North Division. This is likely because of its distance from Toronto for most transit fans and a lack of interest, although it has one long-haul route that reaches the York University area (96 Keele-Yonge). Despite this, simulating Viva services are also not common either, likely due to the lack of models available.