SF Muni inspecting hundreds of buses after fires

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is pulling hundreds of buses off the streets after two buses caught fire last week.

The buses that caught fire were ones that attach to overhead wires; SMFTA says these vehicls are nearly 15 years old.

The fires started at the tops of the electric buses when a pole connecting to the wires overheated.

No one was hurt in either fire, but SMFTA decided to inspect all 298 similiar electric buses.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose, says the agency expects all repairs to be finished by the end of the week and that inspections were done with minimal impact to the system.

SMFTA officials also acknowledged that these inspections & repairs are a temporary solution and ultimately many of these electric buses need to be replaced.

John Haley, director of transit operations at SFMTA, released a memo about the inspections.

In it he said “These coaches are ready to be replaced, but given the delivery schedule (of new buses), most will remain in service for another two years.”