Imagine being on your way somewhere and the TTC bus you’re in is not moving, because it can’t get up the hill in the snow. That is exactly what happened to many passengers on Monday February 2, when at least one bus on York Mills Road east of Yonge Street was struggling to get up the hill, due to the 22 centimetres of snow that walloped Southern Ontario overnight Sunday and into the morning commute. The TTC buses do not use snow tires.

According to Ralph Warner of the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada, municipal transit buses do not need winter snow tires. They are not going at rates of high speed, and operate under a completely different scenario then passenger cars. “They are not needed,” said Warner in a telephone interview. “They have a different configuration.”