Grand River Transit implements new plan for severe winter events

Grand River Transit (GRT) has implemented a new severe weather plan for the upcoming winter season.

The service said during heavy snowfall or freezing rain conditions, it may declare a special weather event. This would cause some stops to be on detour or closed completely.

In the announcement, GRT said the goal of the plan is to “minimize service interruptions by routing buses around problem areas where vehicles can get stuck in snow or icy conditions.”

One rider, Rem, tells CityNews it would be a hassle for students who rely on transit to get to school.

“For example, if another stop is a kilometre away, I would have to walk all the way in the snow,” said Rem. “Which would really be impactful at the time. It’s snowy, you supposed to be helping us with more stops not taking away a stop.

Another rider, Chris, said he uses the bus to get to school every day and could see his commute affected if his stops are closed for weather.

“Personally, I have two stops around here so I don’t think it will affect me that much. But assuming they were both gone, I would have a much harder time getting to school,” said Chris.

Speaking with CityNews 570 Neil Malcolm, assistant director of transit services with Grand River Transit, said the goal of the plan is to provide advanced warning ahead of a significant winter weather event for a small portion of hard to clear bus stops.

“It’s only about five per cent of stops across the region. It’s just the ones we know are a problem and want customers in advance to know and plan alternate travel if we need to close those bus stops.”

Malcolm added, that five per cent equates to roughly 120 of the total 2,500 stops across the region.

Any stop that could be affected will have a new blue sign under the stop marker, which Malcolm said will be rolled out this week.

All stops that need to detour or close during a severe winter event can be found on GRT’s website.