70% of TransLink's 1,600 buses to be equipped with winter tires this season
Metro Vancouver’s public transit authority is strengthening the resiliency of its bus fleet for winter weather this season in a very big way.
TransLink announced today it will equip up to 1,100 buses with winter-grade tires — double or approximately 500 more buses than in 2024.
Overall, this means 70 per cent of TransLink’s conventional bus fleet of roughly 1,600 vehicles will be equipped with winter tires.
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These are Michelin Grip D tires, which provide deeper tread patterns for improved traction in snow, ice, and rain. The tires carry the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake rating — the highest winter rating available for bus tires.
According to the public transit authority, the use of such tires is being expanded, following three years of testing that show Grip D tires perform better in snowy and rainy weather. TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company will continue transitioning the entire fleet to these tires.
Beginning last winter season, TransLink also deployed new dual-drive articulated buses that perform better in snow.
Michelin Grip D winter tires for buses. (TransLink)
Michelin Grip D winter tires for buses. (TransLink)
As usual each year, other winter weather protocols for the bus fleet include coordinating with municipalities on snow-clearing of priority bus routes, spreading anti-icing solutions on overhead trolley wires, and using brass cutters on some trolley buses to prevent ice buildup on wires, as well as replacing some articulated buses with conventional 40-ft buses — especially on bus routes that run on steep inclines — and using snow bus shuttles will also operate on steeper routes with heavy snowfall. This includes a UBC snow bus shuttle for the route along West 10th Avenue/University Boulevard west of Alma Street.
The procedures to better ensure the continuity and reliability of SkyTrain service entail using de-icer trains to keep the power rails free from ice buildup, running trains overnight to prevent snow buildup on outdoor segments of the guideway, deploying SkyTrain attendants at the front of the trains for manual breaking to limit delays, and connecting Millennium Line trains into four-car-long configurations to reduce staffing needs.
99 B-Line articulated bus operating in snow. (Daily Hive)
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- TransLink deploys new dual-drive articulated buses that perform better in snow
- European firm to build 262 new trolley buses for TransLink, with new-generation ability to go off-wire for 20 km
- $479 million federal funding powers TransLink order of over 100 battery-electric buses, charging infrastructure
- TransLink estimates $6.5 billion cost for new bus depots for battery buses and service expansion
- TransLink testing new solar-powered lights atop bus stop signs
- Why many TransLink real-time, next-bus digital displays have disappeared