The snow hit Burnaby Mountain hard today (Friday) and transit was doing OK until around noon, according to the timing on TransLink’s Twitter feed.
That’s when TransLink announced several Burnaby bus routes up the mountain, including from Production Way and Burquitlam SkyTrain stations were being detoured. The new RapidBus that launched on Monday is seen in the tweet below stuck as a transit supervisor shovels snow and ice off the road.
As you can see from the photos, multiple buses were stuck on the roads. Three buses are seen stopped on the way up the mountain.
According to the tweets, rides couldn’t go past Gaglardi and Burnaby Mountain Parkway due to the conditions.
That left hundreds of riders to trudge the rest of the way up to the SFU/UniverCity area. Riders are not just students, they are also workers and residents on the mountain.
The detours have since been cleared. More snow and freezing temperatures, however, are in the forecast for the next week.
Earlier in the week, TransLink said it would be using snow socks on tires if conditions warranted it. But at least one bus in the photo embedded in this story doesn’t show snow socks on the tires.
SFU student Colin Fowler, who has been pushing for the proposed Burnaby Mountain gondola project, said today’s problems are a good example of why a gondola is needed.
Our video from the snowstorm at SFU today! @daka_x SFU gondola pic.twitter.com/marTio6aT7
— Colin Fowler (@Colin_YVR) January 10, 2020
TransLink staff are studying three potential routes: a straight line between the Production Way-University station and the SFU bus loop; a “kinked” route that would head east before making a 90-degree turn near Gaglardi Way and onward to the school campus; and a route starting from the Lake City Way SkyTrain station, around the Trans Mountain tank farm and then to the bus loop.
Transit Supervisors are shoveling and salting to help get buses up Burnaby Mountain. Remember your toque and gloves everyone! ^rw pic.twitter.com/8E3Xlu5ywF
— TransLink BC (@TransLink) January 10, 2020
The direct route could be built for an estimated $197 million and would have a lower operating cost than the current 145 bus service.Here are some of the things TransLink says it’s doing to deal with the conditions:
- Replace articulated buses with 40’ conventional buses when necessary, as they are more agile on steep, slippery areas.
- Install tire socks on buses on Burnaby Mountain and on key North Shore routes where hills and traction are an issue.
- Position attendants at the front of each Expo and Millennium Lines trainto improve reliability on the system by limiting emergency braking triggered by heavy snowfall.
- Run a special SkyTrain that sprays de-icer on the power rail to keep trains moving.
- Run trains through the night if snow is especially heavy, to keep tracks clear.
- Send HandyDART out with two staff per vehicle, to ensure customers get safely to their door, and assist in digging out the bus if required.
