They may be sexy, but they're not so slick in snow.
That's the cautionary word from Ottawa officials on 60-foot-long "articulated" transit buses that Winnipeg plans to roll out for riders next year. Concerns are rising after dozens of such buses -- with two coaches connected by "accordion-style attachments" -- became stuck or slid off streets in Ottawa during a heavy snowfall one morning this winter.
"If you're going to buy articulated buses, at least have snow tires on them," Ottawa Coun. Rainer Bloess told the Sun.
That call for winter tire treads has come in Ottawa since a December storm saw 107 transit buses -- 92 using the accordion joints -- get stuck amid a 24-cm snowfall.
The vehicles' reportedly had difficulty pushing the longer buses through sticky, rapidly accumulating snow.
And they're apparently awkward on sharp corners and put drivers in a tight spot once they begin to jackknife.
The Ottawa gridlock has prompted that city to look for improvements.
Local transit watchdog Nick Ternette prompted similar concerns here by telling Mayor Sam Katz's cabinet on Monday that Winnipeg winters are "going to have a chaos system" with 20 articulated buses to be purchased from New Flyer Industries Ltd. for about $1 million each.
Katz, however, denied the 'Peg will see many problems with the vehicles he described as "sexy" when showing off one of the buses last week.
And he argued the Ottawa difficulties were that city's first such problem in recent memory.
"Mother Nature can do amazing things to anything," the mayor said.
"You can take the best planes in the world and when the weather is bad, what happens? They get grounded."
Transcona-based New Flyer -- the supplier of articulated coaches for Winnipeg and Ottawa -- brushed aside the concerns. Marketing director Amy Miller said those problems were "very specific to the Ottawa build" of coaches which reportedly use diesel fuel only, and not Winnipeg's planned hybrid powered units using diesel and electricity.
Coming with the help of $14 million in additional budget cash, the Winnipeg buses will use "traction control" and ABS braking, said transit spokesman Morley Calahan. He added, however, that "all-weather" tires will be used instead of tires made specifically for snow.