Fewer haphazard Evo parking jobs reported in Metro Vancouver during recent snowfall

After several Evo cars were abandoned during last month’s snowstorm in Metro Vancouver, the carshare company says this time, it hasn’t seen as many parking problems.

In November, there were reports of some of the ride-share vehicles being left in the middle of the road or otherwise haphazardly parked.

Read More: Don’t leave your car in the middle of the road, Evo urges

Senior Manager of Business Operations for Evo, Dave Wharf, says last snowfall, there were about eight vehicles that were improperly parked, but it hasn’t happened as much this week.

“I think because there was already some snow on the road, people were cautious about going out, so we haven’t seen a lot of those instances,” he said.

In an effort to keep people safe, Wharf says crews that are normally responsible for keeping the interiors of the vehicles clean, were out in droves Tuesday clearing snow off of cars, and keeping fuel and windshield fluid tanks full.

“We can’t get to every single vehicle as it’s pretty treacherous out there,” he said.

However, Evo members aren’t equipped with snow brushes to clear off vehicles themselves. Social media posts following Tuesday’s snowfall show some of the vehicles with a large amount of snow attempting to drive.

just saw this guy in an Evo attempting to drive off with about a foot of snow still on the car

not pictured: the rear windshield wipers diligently clearing the tiniest box of visibility

be better than this guys#vancouver #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/sCfujDS490

— 乇乂下尺卂 下卄工匚匚 (@honeybeeeve) December 20, 2022

Wharf says every vehicle is equipped with a small ice scraper for the windows, but there are risks if the company were to add a snow brush too.

“We have to think about how many vehicles we have, what we can put in the vehicles, and what we can hopefully have stay in the vehicles,” he explained.

“Any time we add something into the vehicles, they have the tendency to sometimes go missing.”

“We really encourage members to use that ice scraper to clear off the windshields,” Wharf continued. “A lot of times, people go the easier way, and just keep throwing a whole bunch of windshield fluid and let the wipers do the work.”

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During winter events like the region has seen, Wharf says it’s not likely the company would see a fleet-wide shutdown for the vehicles.

“We look at ourselves very similar to TransLink, and cabs, and things like that. We’re there for people to try and get around. We definitely wouldn’t encourage people to go out, but if someone definitely needs to go somewhere, we would like to think that we’re there for them,” he said.

“We would encourage people not to use the service if they don’t need to use the service.”

With files from Hana Mae Nassar