New tires, new buses, more staff: TransLink lays out winter weather plan

TransLink says more of its buses will be equipped with new, more aggressive tires when winter weather rolls into Metro Vancouver.

The transit and transportation agency laid out its winter preparation plans on Thursday, which include bus upgrades and strategies to keep the SkyTrain running during snow.

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Coast Mountain Bus Company president and general manager Michael McDaniel said TransLink is expanding the use of “Grip-D” tires, which have a deeper tread, to 600 buses this winter, about 100 more than last year.

About 40 per cent of the fleet will be equipped with the tires, with a priority on “routes with higher-challenge terrain,” he said.

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McDaniel said TransLink has also deployed 16 new articulated centre-drive axle buses, which can better handle slippery conditions. Typically, the company has needed to pull its articulated busses from difficult routes during snowy conditions, replacing them with lower-capacity standard buses.

“The buses really are only as good as the roads they drive on, and they still can get stuck in unplowed roads and very icy conditions,” he noted, adding TransLink will be in close communication with municipalities about plowing priority routes.

On SkyTrain, TransLink is staffing up and sticking with its traditional approach to winter management.

That includes running empty trains overnight, special trains that spray de-icing fluid during the day, and deploying staff members onto each train to watch for snow hazards.

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“This year we have made sure that more of our staff are prepared to run our de-icing train and are focused on distributing our employees to stations that are most prone to snow and ice,” said Will

TransLink said it is also increasing communication staffing levels to ensure the flow of real-time information, both within the transit system and with the public.

While McDaniel is promising an “all hands on deck” approach, transit officials are still warning the public to ensure they have extra time when travelling during inclement weather, and are urging people to closely monitor its website and social media feeds, or to sign up for transit alerts.