TTC grounds articulated bus fleet over safety concern
The TTC, this evening, has ground all 153 of its 60-foot articulated buses after maintenance staff experienced a “full throttle,” or unexpected acceleration, of one of the buses during routine maintenance late this afternoon.
As well, an operator who was returning to Malvern Garage today due to faulty doors experienced a similar full throttle situation that required him to quickly regain control of the vehicle. No injuries were reported and no customers were on board the bus at the time.
The TTC immediately advised Nova, the bus manufacturer.
Nova has come up with a software fix, however it takes approximately 20 minutes per bus to complete and Nova will not be able to apply the solution across the entire fleet by tomorrow morning’s service.
TTC staff are in the process of developing a service plan for morning and afternoon peak service (if necessary), as there will be a significant service impact across the network with 153 articulated buses out of service while the fix is implemented.
The 40-foot bus fleet, which has not experienced this problem, is being reallocated across all seven TTC garages to ensure customer impacts tomorrow are limited. Nevertheless, customers will experience increased wait times as a result of this issue.
Articulated Bus Fleet Facts
- Fleet size: 153
- Length: 60 foot
- Capacity: 77 seated and standing
- Routes operated: 7 Bathurst, 29 Dufferin, 36 Finch West, 85 Sheppard East, 53 Steeles Express, 41 Keele