TransLink is making the beloved Reindeer Bus tradition nine-times larger this year to spread much-needed holiday cheer all over Metro Vancouver. Starting tomorrow, Reindeer Buses Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph will roll into service and brighten a street near you.

“We can all agree that it’s been a pretty tough year,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond. “If there was ever a time to boost our Reindeer Bus fleet, it’s certainly now. We want to spread smiles and holiday cheer to street corners all over the region, and this is a fun way to do it.”

The Reindeer Bus is part of a 35-year initiative known as Toys for Tots. Each year, toys and cash donations from staff at TransLink bus depots and offices are delivered from the Reindeer Bus to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau to be distributed to low-income families.

For Reindeer Bus lovers, TransLink has also launched a new line of holiday merchandise featuring the Reindeer Bus in our online store, just in time for any transit lover’s Christmas.

Reindeer Bus facts:

• Nearly 3,000 toys and over $2,000 were donated last year through Toys for Tots
• In 34 years, 84,776 toys and $48,449.05 have been donated through the initiative
• Each Reindeer Bus is named after a different reindeer guiding Santa’s sleigh
• The routes the Reindeer Buses will travel on will vary each day based on scheduling by elves in each bus depot
• The buses have been decorated by Santa’s elves at each bus depot