Transit System: West Kootenay
WEST KOOTENAY – Passengers in the West Kootenay Transit System will soon see buses equipped with full driver doors designed to protect the health and safety of BC Transit operators.
Retrofits on conventional fleet buses in Nelson will get underway in the coming days, with Trail installations taking place immediately following. Kodiak Mobile Video Installations will complete installations of the protective doors, produced by AROW Global Corporation. While the installation process is taking place, passengers will experience no impact to service levels.
The full driver door is a movable barrier situated to the right of the driver’s seat near the fare box designed to increase protection for our drivers. It includes a transparent piece of laminated tempered glass with anti-glare coating and metal base. The full driver door windows can be adjusted to account for sightlines associated with different seat positions.
The full driver door installations in Nelson and Trail will be carried out over a roughly five day period, with the new doors replacing the current vinyl panels installed as protective barriers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community and handyDART buses in both systems will continue to be equipped with vinyl panels.
Kodiak Mobile Video Installations will return to Nelson in September to complete retrofits on 27.5 foot Vicinity buses that require an alternate door design.
BC Transit has accelerated our installation schedule, and 633 buses will be retrofitted with full driver doors across 34 transit systems in the province before the end of September. All future new buses in the fleet will arrive with the door pre-installed.
