Plan to pause some bus stops during severe weather returns

A severe weather plan for all the buses is in effect across Waterloo Region.

It’s the second year Grand River Transit (GRT) is trying to give customers more notice about a closed bus stop. Those with blue signs up will be temporarily paused during severe weather like heavy rain or snowfall – which is about 130 stops out of 2,500.

The Acting Director of Transit Services for the GRT, Neil Malcolm, said those stops could be located on a steep hill or an unsafe area for customers to wait.

“In advance we’re saying there’s a few bus stops in the system that when its really heavy snow, a bus just can’t service that stop,” said Malcolm.

GRT rolled out the Transit severe weather plan last year and it only had to be activated twice.

“If you do go to a stop and you see a little blue tab on it that notes the severe weather plan, if we’ve activated the plan, you know that that bus stop will not be in use for the duration of the storm.”

The goal of the plan is to give GRT customers a chance to plan ahead of severe weather, so they don’t get stuck walking.

“When snow, freezing rain or bad weather hits, be patient, plan ahead, bus operators are out there driving in the heavy snow too but they’re really just trying to safely get all their customers to their destination.”

To see if the severe weather plan is active go to GRT.ca or check Grand River Transit’s social media channels.