Spun-out transit bus, traffic chaos: North Shore greets first blast of winter

A spun-out public transit bus on the Cut, parts of North Van’s notorious 29th Street hill that threatened to become a luge run, and lots of complaints from commuters facing multi-hour journeys home were all part of the experience as the North Shore braved its first snowfall of the season during rush hour Thursday afternoon.

Snowflakes started falling mid-afternoon, with snow picking up steam and blanketing North Vancouver by about 3 p.m.

In North Vancouver, a public transit bus spun out in the snow on Highway 1 heading west up the Cut, blocking westbound traffic near the Mountain Highway overpass.

North Van resident and media personality Mo Amir of VanColour said he was driving behind the bus when the spin-out happened, but managed to squeeze past to an empty highway. "Between the median and the bus, I feel like there was maybe a foot on each side. It was really tight," he said.

According to TransLink, the bus that spun out and got stuck on the Cut Thursday was not in service at the time and had no passengers on board.  The bus got into trouble, "due mainly to the road not being cleared" said TransLink spokesperson Thor Diakow.

TransLink’s bus tires feature the highest snow traction rating available, said Diakow — the three-peak mountain snowflake rating — "which means they’re winter-rated and have been certified to provide quality traction in snow," he said.

"Manufacturers design bus tires to be used year-round. Dedicated snow tires that are changed specifically for winter months are common for cars, but not for buses."

TransLink uses tire socks on some routes where necessary, including Burnaby Mountain, and hilly areas of the North Shore.

But tire socks also limit the speed of buses, need a safe location to install, and are only useful on roads with snow on the ground – so they are not used on all routes, said Diakow.

Snow brings rush hour chaos

The bus snafu exacerbated traffic chaos in North Vancouver, with many streets heading on to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge choked with cars.

Driving in some stretches of North Vancouver, "It was very evident who had snow tires and who didn't," said Amir.

“Left the office in Lower Lonsdale at 2:45 today thinking 'oh crap, snow’s getting heavy – better get a jump on the trip home (Edmonds area),'” wrote one commuter on Reddit. “7:45 – just got home.”

For some, public transit wasn’t a huge improvement.

“I waited and waited for my bus (R2) and it never came,” wrote another commuter on Reddit. “So I returned to my office to eat dinner here and wait it out.”

Diakow said TransLink buses were having the same issues as other cars in the icy conditions Thursday and "are only as good as the roads they drive on. There was heavy congestion due to numerous motor vehicle incidents and gridlock, which delayed buses – as they were also stuck in traffic. In some cases, delays were also caused by other vehicles sliding into our buses."

Side streets appeared to be slippery, with one X user posting a video of an unexpected Amazon ‘delivery’ as an Amazon truck slid down a hill in his neighbourhood.

29th Street hill a challenge

The infamous 29th Street hill also proved too much for several drivers, who got stuck trying to drive up the hill in the snow.

Natalia Mihai said she was walking up the hill when she saw several cars that were stuck part-way up the hill. In one case, a truck had begun sliding backwards towards another car which had also come to a standstill, said Mihai.

“We saw a car hit a hydrant” and spin around, said Mihai.”It hit a curb. It turned and turned really slowly and slid all the way down the hill.”

Another driver lost control on the hill and smashed into a power pole, causing the airbag in her car to deploy. Mihai said she eventually walked that woman down to a waiting ambulance as the ambulance was also unable to get up the hill.

District of North Vancouver crews eventually closed sections of the street for about an hour to allow crews to remove snow due to safety concerns.

The district reported crews also dealt with cars abandoned in the snow.

West Van Seawalk flooded by high tide

Despite the snow, traffic trouble in West Vancouver was kept to a minimum Thursday evening, said Sgt. Chris Bigland of the West Vancouver Police Department.

The day started off with a different kind of show by Mother Nature in West Van, as a storm surge including a high tide of 4.79 metres combined with high winds to send waves and debris flooding on to the Seawalk.

The District of West Vancouver closed the Seawalk for several hours while crews cleared logs and debris from the public path and salted it before it was re-opened at about 4 p.m. Thursday.

Temperatures across the south coast headed into the deep freeze overnight Thursday, with records for low temperatures broken on the North Shore on Friday.

According to Environment Canada, West Vancouver recorded a low overnight temperature of -12.8 Friday, dropping to about -20 with the windchill. Previously, the coldest temperature recorded on Jan. 12 was in 1998 when the mercury dipped to -10.4 overnight. Low temperatures are expected to last into at least the middle of next week, although they may moderate slightly over the weekend and climb above zero again during the daytime starting on Tuesday.