Some of Toronto's brand new sidewalk snowplows were out of service as storm hit

The city spent $5.3 million on sidewalk snowplows last summer, yet more than a dozen of them were out of service as Monday's fierce storm belted Toronto, CBC News has learned.

Barbara Gray, the head of the city's transportation services division, said the city will eventually have about 50 sidewalk plows to serve the downtown area (other parts of the city are served by contractors). When the storm hit, 34 of those vehicles were available, Gray said, and the deep snow posed a problem.

A source with knowledge of the situation said in one district alone, 11 of 15 Holder sidewalk plows were out of service during Monday's storm.

CBC News sent specific questions about the issues to the city on Tuesday morning but didn't receive a response until Wednesday. City staff didn't confirm any specifics, but said in that email all of its plows are now up and running.

The city had not mentioned the issue with sidewalk snow clearing in its previous public updates.

• Stuck dealing with snowy sidewalks where you are? Let us know

Coun. Paul Ainslie asked about the snowed-insidewalks atWednesday's budget committee and received confirmation there were problems.

"We did have some mechanical issues,"Grayconfirmed.

The city's David Jollimore offered a bit more clarification that there was a "specific sensor issue" that was worked out with the vendor.

Jollimore chalked it up to "growing pains" of working with new equipment. Gray said she believes the plows, worth about $100,000 each, are still the right machine for the job.

"For our normal conditions for Canadian winters, these plows do a fine job," she said.

Not everyone agrees.

One source within the snow-clearing industry said they hadthe same machines in the past and would never purchase them again.

"I had three of them, I had to keep them inside because they wouldn't start in the cold," they told CBC News.

"Imagine a snow machine that won't start in the cold."

As of Wednesday morning, the city said it has completed nine rounds of sidewalk clearing, covering some 61,119 kilometres. In total, Toronto has just over 7,000 kilometres of sidewalk, so this total would suggest some have been done several times.

Despite that, many Torontonianshave posted photos of sidewalks that haven't been cleared on social media, while others have wondered when they might see a sidewalk plow.

• J.D. Mowat said Clinton Street, north of College Street, is a "disaster" as contractors push snow onto sidewalks. "No sign of the promised sidewalk plowing from the city, and even if they did show, I doubt they'd be able to handle what the contractors have left scattered around,"Mowat said in an email.
• In the Harbourfront area, Dan Trivett wrote in an email that many crosswalks are poorly plowed, making it harder for someone with mobility issues like him. Trivett says he wears a brace on his right leg following a number of operations and that slipping or sliding can be painful and dangerous.

City council approved an expansion of sidewalk snow-removal last July.

Until then, about 1,300 kilometresof sidewalks mostly in the downtown core did not receive city-provided snow-clearing.