Snow tires dominate talk at Halifax Transit budget meeting

A meeting about Halifax Transit's budget for the coming year was dominated on Wednesday by a discussion about snow tires and why the city's buses don't have them.

Eddie Robar, the director of Halifax Transit, was peppered with questions from councillors. He said the types of tires Halifax uses on its buses are the ones almost all cities use.

He said he only knows of two transit systems that use winter tires.

"The transit industry [and] the school industry use the same tire that we use, which is a Michelin DXN2, which is an aggressive all-season tire," said Robar.

"It's almost a winter tire."

Robar said he does not know how much it would cost to convert the entire fleet to snow tires.

Halifax Transit's fleet of articulated buses are known to struggle going up inclines in poor winter weather. Robar said new treads for the middle wheels are being tested.

"You can't buy a winter tire for that super-wide tire in the middle, so we're piloting what we call a recap tire in consultation with Michelin and also Bridgestone," he said.

Councillors say bus tire info should be put on transit's website.

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