Snow-clogged roads keep school buses from running

Regina students will again have to find their own way to class on Thursday, as the public and Catholic school divisions have cancelled transportation service to and from school.

The city’s residential streets remain a mess after the weekend’s snowstorm, which makes it too difficult for school buses to navigate.

Paratransit and taxi service for students is also on hiatus, after 20 to 40 centimetres of snow fell between Saturday and Tuesday.

School transportation was cancelled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

This is not unprecedented. In March 2013, both school divisions cancelled transportation for a whole week due to a large snowfall.

“We’re close to that,” said Regina Catholic School Division spokeswoman Twylla West.

Transit will not be a concern on Friday for public school students, who are off due to a staff professional development day.

Catholic students are in class on Friday, and it remains to be seen whether buses will run.

“It’s pretty hard to speculate. I’m holding out hope that the city can get the streets cleared,” West said.

“Everybody who lives on a side street … I live along a bus route and people are still getting stuck on my street — and a city bus route at that. So to add a whole bunch more buses to that, it’s dangerous,” she added.

City crews are still working around the clock to clear snow from streets around the city.

All Category 1 major arteries have now been cleared, according to transportation director Norman Kyle, as are a portion of all other arterial and collector streets.

In a news conference Wednesday, Kyle said his department still plans to begin work on residential roads on Thursday, and has now set a start time of 7 a.m.

“We will be clearing them during the day, when people are typically at work, and the vehicles aren’t on the street,” he said.

Kyle said residents are not required to remove parked cars from the streets while the work is ongoing, but stressed that it would be a great help to the city.

“We will be putting out a schedule for neighbourhoods so people can check online and find out when their neighbourhood’s being done,” Kyle explained.

“We would encourage them to move the cars off the street because it makes the operations more efficient, more consistent and safer for everyone.”

He said his crews will keep plowing seven days per week until the job is done.

The city has also made a dent in sidewalk snow, according to Kyle.

He said that downtown sidewalks under city responsibility are now largely clear.