Halifax transit union wants snow tires after snowclearing criticism

A spokeswoman for Halifax thinks the city's snow clearing crews did a pretty good job with the New Year’s Day snow fall, but the head of the union representing transit drivers says snow tires on buses would have made a big difference.

Thursday’s snowfall cleanup attracted some criticism from drivers and homeowners in the Halifax region.

Tiffany Chase with the city says crews were out on the holiday clearing the main arteries, as outlined by the city's standards.

The city has 12 hours to clear priority streets after the snowfall stops.

"No matter whether it's four centimetres, like yesterday, or 24 centimetres, we certainly send out crews appropriately because we have a budget we have to work within. So we resource the snow clearing based on the standard, rather than the amount of snow," said Chase.

"If we had trucks out on every street yesterday to have them all cleared within a few hours, it would be more expensive to us and that would be cost prohibitive for us throughout the winter."

Chase says most of the street cleaning happened at night.

Current tires 'like a ski'

Shane O'Leary is the vice-president of ATU Local 508, which represents about 600 Halifax Transit drivers. He says snow tires on their vehicles would help them move around better in bad weather and prevent traffic issues.

"We want an actual winter tire put on the front and rear tire of the buses," he said. "The front tire has a slotted tire that works kind of like a ski. It doesn't direct the bus very well or grip or bite into the snow."

Conventional buses in Halifax, like in many other cities, use what's called "aggressive all season" tires. Access-a-buses have winter tires.

O'Leary says they all should have winter tires. 

"A sliding 17-tonne bus that's 40 feet long, 10 feet wide, with 50 people on it, can do a whole lot of damage to everything around it," he said.

Chase says the city is considering a new type of tire for transit buses, but it too would be an all-season tire.

"Michelin has designed a new tire with a different tread, but it hasn't been tested on buses yet. Quebec City is pilot testing this new tire with its 60-foot buses, which is similar to what we have, the longer, articulated buses. So we'll be following closely the results of their testing of that new tire going forward," she said.

Chase says the city isn't considering switching to winter tires.