The City of Vaughan has been a long-time partner of Smart Commute NTV and is committed to reducing automobile dependency, traffic congestion and transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.  In an effort to promote active transportation among staff, the City of Vaughan has established an Employee Trip Reduction Program as a core element of staff environmental education strategy.  Components of the Employee Trip Reduction Program include participation in annual campaigns such as Clean Air Commute and Bike to Work Day, lunch and learns on sustainable driving training, as well as participation on Carpool Zone. 

Carpooling

Carpool Zone is a free, online ride-matching service provided by Smart Commute.  It rewards users for their eco-friendly efforts and tracks greenhouse gases and money saved by carpooling. 

The City of Vaughan, through Smart Commute NTV’s Carpool Zone, has designated carpooling parking spaces at Vaughan City Hall.  All registered carpools on Carpool Zone are eligible for priority parking.  The carpool spaces are located in a preferred area of the City Hall east, as well as underground parking areas and are granted to all vehicles that have two or more registered City of Vaughan employees in a carpool together (including the driver).  It is anticipated that carpool parking spots will be established at the Joint Operations Centre in the near future. 

To qualify for designated carpool parking:

• Go to the City of Vaughan Carpool Zone. You can restrict your matches to other City of Vaughan employees or select a public option to find matches who work nearby with a similar schedule.  If you are already in a carpool, everyone in the carpool needs to register on Carpool Zone to obtain the parking tag.
  
  
• Confirm your registration in your email inbox and fill out your trip details (enter your home address and select “Vaughan City Hall” as your destination.)

• View your carpool matches and either accept or send requests to share a ride. If you are already in a carpool, look for your carpool partner’s name on your list of matches and send or accept their invitation to share a ride.

Once your carpool is formed, you will have a take your 8 digit Carpool Zone carpool ID number (which you can find under the “My Matches” tab – the number will look like this: My Carpool 22000813) and license plate information to Elizabeth Koster (Elizabeth.Koster@vaughan.ca or x 8426) in the Environmental Sustainability Office  to obtain your parking tag. You will be issued a corresponding decal with your carpool ID number on it to display from your rearview mirror when parking in designated carpooling parking spaces. 

City of Vaughan employees pick up there carpool parking tags. 

Public Transit

Commuting from the South - TTC, GO Transit
Take the TTC Subway to Downsview Station and either: 

Option 1: Take TTC bus 107 C, D or F northbound to the intersection of Keele St. and Major Mackenzie Dr. In peak periods, bus 107 runs approximately every 20 min. Please note an extra fare is always required when travelling on TTC buses to locations north of Steeles Ave. 

Option 2: From Downsview station, take the VIVA orange bus to York University and transfer to the VIVA purple route. Please note that VIVA orange now accepts TTC Metropasses or transfers as valid fares, but only until you reach York University, from where the VIVA fare applies.

Commuting from the North - YRT/Viva, GO Transit

Option 1: Take Viva Blue southbound on Yonge St. to Major Mackenzie Dr. Take YRT bus 4/4A westbound to the Keele St. stop. Viva Blue runs in peak periods approximately every 10-15 min.

Option 2: Take YRT bus 22 to the Maple Community Centre, the Civic Centre is a short walk south on Keele St. to Major Mackenzie Dr. During peak periods, bus 22 runs every 30 minutes

Option 3: Take Barrie-Bradford GO Transit service southbound and get off at the Maple GO Station (if taking the train) or Keele St. and Major Mackenzie Dr. (if taking the bus). This service departs at various times in the peak period – please check GO Transit route/schedule for the nearest buses/trains from your location.

Active Commuting

One of the goals within Green Directions Vaughan, the City's Community Sustainability and Environmental Master Plan, is to ensure that the city is easy to get around with a low environmental impact.  To guarantee this, the City of Vaughan actively promotes walking and cycling as transportation options. 

The City of Vaughan is currently:

• Developing a network of sidewalks to encourage walking and running
• Installing Bike Route signage: 45 km of bike routes will be signed by Spring 2011
• Implementing a new Vaughan Cycling Advisory Group to promote cycling as mode share