The heavy snow that dropped on Bellingham on Wednesday, Jan. 17 meant a first in 30 years for the Whatcom Transportation Authority: a service shutdown.
Just before noon Wednesday, WTA announced that all buses would cease operation. The full shutdown was needed as road conditions worsened, and buses continued to get stuck in the snow or ended up getting stacked up behind other stuck vehicles, said Maureen McCarthy, WTA director of community and government relations. Fifteen buses got stuck Wednesday, and at one point, eight were stuck at the same time, McCarthy said.
“There were a number of close calls, just slippery situations that looked like they could have led to potential collisions with other vehicles,” she said. “We had so many buses of our own stuck … we were running out of people in vehicles to get our own stuck buses rolling.”
The last time a service shutdown happened was in 1996, McCarthy said, and that call was made at the beginning of the service day. A call to shutdown service midday was unheard of for people at WTA.
“Safety is always our number one priority,” she wrote in a follow-up message. “Based on the road conditions yesterday morning, we had serious concerns about our ability to operate safely.”
Ahead of a snow event, WTA has a “snow huddle” the night before to decide how many buses to put chains on. McCarthy said that on Tuesday night, Jan. 16, it had looked like it would be a “typical snow day”: slow going with detours and delays. Staff assess again at 4 or 5 a.m. in the morning.
The WTA also makes plans for additional staffing: for more customer service representatives, people to plow and shovel their property and stations, and fleet maintenance staff.
When service shut down, the WTA offered rides to people who were anticipating a ride home on the bus. Available staff were able to transport people on WTA vehicles better equipped for the weather. McCarthy said staff returned 160 people home on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s conditions were “unique” and “unusual,” McCarthy said. She said the WTA will likely have a meeting after the snow passes to determine what could have been done differently to avoid a service shutdown.
McCarthy said they were “lucky enough” that yesterday was a low travel day.
“Unlike, maybe in past years before the work-from-home phenomenon, we would actually see a lot of new people on the bus, and I think people [now] have a little more flexibility when it’s nasty just to not go.”
Buses are running Thursday, but WTA said in social media posts that people should expect delays. Some routes are on detour and flex service; zone service and Lynden Hop service are paused until further notice.
This article was updated at 4:07 p.m. on Thursday, Jan.18 to add the total number of people WTA staff transported home on Wednesday.
