Closures, ferry cancellations as second snowfall hits Metro Vancouver

METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Problems at the Skytrain, delays at the airport and classes cancelled at UBC on Tuesday, all because of a fresh dumping of snow on the South Coast.

More wintery weather hit the Lower Mainland, with up to 15 cm of snow expected overnight Monday, into Tuesday morning.

BC Ferries cancelled or modified some of its evening sailings due to “deteriorating weather conditions” on Monday evening.

Meanwhile,  BCIT and VCC campuses closed on Monday afternoon. SFU closed its Burnaby and Surrey campuses as of 5:30 p.m., and its Vancouver campus as of 8:30 p.m. They may be open Tuesday.

UBC cancelled all classes for Monday night, and is the only school, so far, that has also cancelled classes for Tuesday.

All Kwantlan and Langara campuses also closed Monday.

Vancouver Airport is asking passengers to budget extra time for their journey to the airport, and to check in and clear security early.

Around 8:45 p.m. on Monday, the airport was reporting a number of delays and a few cancellations to their departures and a significant impact on arrivals.

As of 9 p.m., TransLink was reporting delays on the Canada Line, with bus links filling in between some stations.

Crews will be out in full force to ensure the roads are clear in Surrey — many are being supplemented with extra staff. Ray Kerr is with the City of Surrey and says the trucks won’t be leaving the roads for the next while.

“We’ve had staff out since just prior to the snow arriving,” Kerr adds. “All of our trucks have been running since then, and will continue to do so into this week until there’s no longer any issues with the snow.”

He says staff are rotating on 12-hour shifts to make sure trucks are operating 24-hours a day.

The City of Surrey announced delays to waste collection services on Monday and Tuesday via Twitter, and some parts of Vancouver are experiencing recycling collection cancellations.

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Mainroad’s Darren Ell says his teams are working to stay ahead, “Our dayshift guys are supplemented with additional people as well, and they’ll just keep going.”

TransLink says it’ll be running trains to keep tracks ice-free, but is urging you to leave extra time and to dress warmly.

As snow begins to accumulate, watch out for slippery roads and limited visibility due to wind, DriveBC says.

The snow could also impact whether you get your mail on time, Jennifer Gall with Canada Post says the company has issued a yellow alert, meaning we could see delays.

“We’re certainly taking our time out there making sure that everyone gets home safe at the end of the night.”

But she’s reminding people that clearing your driveway, sidewalks and steps will go a long way to speeding up delivery and preventing injuries.

-With files from Ria Renouf, Lasia Kretzel and Tim James