10215 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Can Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa's LRTs withstand Canadian winters?

 

All three cities' LRT systems partially closed Thursday morning following overnight snowfall

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-snow-9.7047495

 

 

 

 

The interrupted commutes have prompted questions about whether the services were adequately designed for Canadian winters.

 

"It's quite a scratch-your-head-and-wonder," said Steve Munro, a Toronto transit advocate, who recently conducted an analysis showing travel times on the Finch Line are often longer than they were for the buses it replaced.

 

"I don't think that they have factored in winter as much as they should," said Lavagnon Ika, a professor of project management at the University of Ottawa.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 January 2026 - 07:52 AM.

[Mike K.]

Neither can EVs.

[Victoria Watcher]

Neither can EVs.

 

Many more ICE cars get stuck in winter weather than EVs.

 

Probaly adjusted for fleet size too.

 

I'd check with Grok but X is down.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 January 2026 - 07:57 AM.

[Mike K.]

I'd check with Grok but X is down.

My truck still goes 750km on a tank, regardless of weather. An EV will lose like half its range on a really cold day.

[Victoria Watcher]

I'd check with Grok but X is down.

 

Gemini:

 

[Mike K.]

Extreme cold is not -15C.

[Mike K.]

Jamie Sarkonak: Electric buses are a disaster for every Canadian city that tries them

Regina is just the latest city to report problems with unreliable battery-powered transit

…

Aside from being more expensive to run — defeating their original purpose of saving on gas money — Singh said they were “not for the Saskatchewan weather.” He added that four buses had to be pulled off the line and re-charged the previous Friday, as they had fallen to 15 per cent battery. “I’m not in favour of electric buses at all,” he said.

…

“For the winter, their battery dies very quickly, and they can just run for two, three hours, that’s all,” he said. The buses weren’t good for the summer either, because the charge couldn’t reliably last.

…

This was always a predictable outcome, particularly since Edmonton already wasted millions on the same kind of failed project. In 2018, back when climate was the issue du jour, the city came up with a plan to spend $43 million on electric buses. Half of the funds came from the federal government, with the province of Alberta and the city of Edmonton covering a quarter each. The deal was announced by Don Iveson, then-mayor, and Amerjeet Sohi, the Liberal transport minister at the time who would go on to succeed Iveson as Edmonton mayor.

Article content
Iveson boasted that the switch would “produce a more reliable bus for our operators” and that their purchase was “absolutely critical to our city’s accelerated leadership on energy and climate.”

Article content
Fast forward to today and Edmonton has 60 of these buses in its fleet of 1,000. In December 2023, it was reported that only one quarter of these were in working order due to a range of problems. The company that built them, Proterra, filed for bankruptcy. Edmonton joined in on the bankruptcy proceedings, claiming that it was owed $82 million for the bus fiasco. Edmonton lawyers claimed that “None of the buses have ever achieved 328 km on a single charge,” and that “On average, the bus range has been approximately 165 km in the winter and, at best, 250 km in warmer weather.”

- https://nationalpost...mental efforts.

What a dumpster fire. 328km official range, whittled down to 165km.

[max.bravo]

Edmonton used to run those tram buses with the overhead wires when I was a kid there. Those electric buses seemed to work just fine in the winter.

[lanforod]

Edmonton used to run those tram buses with the overhead wires when I was a kid there. Those electric buses seemed to work just fine in the winter.

 

That's apples and oranges comparison to batteries though, and those overhead wires suck in many ways too. 

[splashflash]

Translink in Greater Vancouver will be getting new electric trolley buses soon. Those will be from Poland, manufactured by Solaris. The trolleybuses are special to Vancouver for me as I can remember the old Brill buses with the rear wrap-around windows of the 1970s. The new ones can travel significant distances off wire, so there is a good chance former diesel routes will become trolleybus routes without wires. They could charge along wired sections like Granville bus mall.

Edmonton discontinued its ETBs in the 2009. See the advocacy group website. https://trolleycoali...g/aboutetc.html
Edmonton had the second last trolleybus system n Canada. Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto and Hamilton all had them.

[Mike K.]

That’s actually a neat idea. Trolley wires charging EV buses along their routes and at stations. Very interesting.

Here’s the website showing their trams: https://www.solarisb...ehicles/trams-1

[Mike K.]

Speaking of trams, that would make the most sense for Victoria. Run a tram along the TCH then align it with Douglas, with a loop at the legislature.

You could run capacity equal to 2-3 double deckers all day long and still fit on our blocks. Maybe you could run even more capacity, definitely with standing room.

(Also, if money were no object).

[splashflash]

The Solaris bus page is here: https://www.solarisb...ssions/trollino

Models are 40', 60', and 80'. 80' are biarticulated. Below are some photos of the 80' (24m) trolleybuses.  They can travel up to 20km offwire.
 

 

Edited by splashflash, 18 January 2026 - 09:40 PM.

[splashflash]

New trolleybuses for Vancouver begin arriving in 2026

 

https://magazine.sol...-for-vancouver/

 

The agreement with Vancouver’s public transport operator, TransLink, includes the delivery of 107 12-metre trolleybuses. And this may be just the beginning – the contract also includes options for an additional 201 12-metre trolleybuses and up to 204 articulated 18-metre vehicles. 

 

 

Lots more photos by a Vancouver transit lover.

https://dailyhive.co...order-vancouver

Edited by splashflash, 18 January 2026 - 09:34 PM.

[Mike K.]

Double decker crash in Spokane has injured multiple people. The bus was 2’ higher than an overpass. Literal nightmare scenario.

[aastra]

 

 

Operations of all double-decker buses will be temporarily suspended for the investigation into Sunday's crash...

 

What's the implication with that? Do they want to rule out the possibility that the buses have been growing taller without anyone noticing? Or that overpasses have been getting lower?

 

No doubt the bus went off its normal route and the driver didn't heed the height warning on the overpass, because nowadays hardly anyone seems to heed those height warnings. People tend to regard them as if they're quaint artifacts from an earlier time or some such thing.

 

For further reference, see countless "fail army" videos in which drivers of trucks and buses make this same mistake. Not to mention all the videos of vehicles having mishaps at the fast food drive-thru or in low-ceiling parkades, etc.