A fire engulfed southbound bus 439 yesterday afternoon, forcing the driver and a passenger to escape the burning vehicle.
London firefighters arrived on the scene to combat the flames on Aldersbrook Road near Hawthorne Avenue. No injuries have been reported.
“We want to be able to determine the cause and make sure it’s not an issue in other buses in the fleet,” Larry Ducharme, London Transit Commission general manager, stated.
The bus has now been removed from service and is currently being investigated in order to determine how the fire broke out. This investigation, which involves health and safety and maintenance staff, also has an external forensic component.
“We want to be able to determine the cause,” Ducharme stated. “In the immediate term our maintenance staff has looked at the bus and identified what may be the cause [a panel] and removed it in similar buses.”
Bus 439 was a diesel-powered Invero bus that will cost approximately $470,000 for the LTC to replace. Approximately 41 other buses of the same design will be investigated for similar hazards.
When asked what this could mean for the thousands of students who rely on the bus for safe transportation everyday, Ducharme ensured there was no impact on service.
He added both short and long-term measures were being taken to make sure the incident was a one-off event and the service buses are safe and will stay in good repair.
For some students, the occurrence will not deter further usage of the LTC bus service.
“I am still going to take it. I’ll question it a bit, but not enough to [not] ride it,” Michael Glen, a second-year psychology student at Western, said. “I’m sure the [LTC] will take measures to prevent it in the future.”
“Yeah, it’ll definitely make me question it. It’s scary,” Katie Kelly, a first-year arts and humanities student, said. “But it doesn’t affect me in a huge way.”
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