Toronto thinks it's ready for another big snowfall but people aren't convinced
Toronto is touting its readiness for another big dump of snow set to blanket the city starting on Wednesday, but with areas still buried under the remnants of a historic mid-January blizzard that shut down the region, it seems people are taking these claims with a grain of salt.
In a press release issued on Tuesday afternoon, the city claims to be "taking several steps to ready for this multi-day snowfall," preparing its fleet of 600 street plows, 300 sidewalk plows, and 200 salt trucks to manage the mix of freezing rain and snow set to descend on the city.
They have quite the job at hand, this fleet operated by just 1,500 workers expected to clear an astounding 14,743 lane-km of roads, approximately 6,500 km of sidewalks, and around 640 km of bike lanes.
#CityofTO's winter crews ready for forecasted snowfall. News release: https://t.co/FfMuU0WPUm pic.twitter.com/SjuiBzv3W5
— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) February 1, 2022
But these claims of readiness for what has since been upgraded to a winter weather advisory are being thoroughly skewered on social media, many comments focusing on the fact that the city still hasn't finished cleaning up the last mess.
Finish the last one! Two lane roads are down to one lane (with no warning) all across the city. Bus stops beside tall mounds of snow not cleared. Sidewalks still blocked.
— Jeremy Diamond (@diamondjeremy) February 2, 2022
The common theme is that people want the city to do a better job this time around, though it's pretty clear from the tone of comments that public faith in the city's ability to handle large snow events has been shaken.
I know they have a massive job to do but could they put a little more effort into clearing the whole lane instead of a portion 💕
— Bonnie64 (@416_1990) February 1, 2022
Even the language of the city's press release hints they might be in over their heads, stating that "every effort will be made to plow snow to the curb but based on the amount of snow and limited right of way storage capacity, certain curb lanes may be impacted."
Still, they've managed to clear a whopping 92,280 tonnes of snow since the last storm, resulting in some awe-inspiring views of a dirty snow mountain shared by the city this week.
Meanwhile, as the city boasts its readiness for another wave of snow, the TTC is presenting less of a rosy picture, preemptively shutting down the troubled Line 3 Scarborough RT on Wednesday morning before even a single flake of snow had fallen.
Due to the weather forecast Line 3 will be closed today. Shuttle buses will be running between Kennedy and McCowan Stations.
— TTC Service Alerts (@TTCnotices) February 2, 2022
To stay up-to-date on all service changes, visit https://t.co/JQObTkLkfy. pic.twitter.com/64UEvmP8ws
This may seem like a localized issue for Scarborough residents, who always seem to get the short end of the transit stick, but the line's replacement with shuttle buses could strain the surface fleet should the snowfall result in other transit lines being knocked out of service.
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