You’ve heard of bus shelters but how about shelter buses?

A shelter bus is a bus that is dispatched by Transit Communications (T-Comm) to local emergencies where people are being displaced.

The bus provides much needed, safe and warm protection for displaced residents in cases such as a fire, floods and other emergencies, until it is deemed safe to return to their homes.

Not only that, but emergency personnel will often meet those who are affected right on the bus and if temporary shelter is needed, the bus will then transport them to a hotel.

“Coast Mountain Bus Company has very good working relationships with all of our emergency responders,” says a T-Comm Duty Manager. “Shelter buses are requested by police or fire crews throughout Metro Vancouver. When they are requested, we prioritize this request to provide a bus to the incident location.

“It is a very important service that we have and if we can assist or help our emergency response teams in these situations, it forms a larger sense of community.”

Due to near-freezing temperatures, @TransLink buses were seen pulling up across the street from Burnaby Hospital to give evacuated patients a chance to warm up. #NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/pCKimJxmQN

— Kareem Gouda (@KareemsGouda) November 16, 2020