(Image: King County Metro)
Already challenged by staffing shortages, King County Metro says a steering problem identified in some of its buses will possibly add to canceled routes and delays.
Metro revealed the issue Tuesday, saying it impacts only about 10% of its around 1,500 buses.
“After two Metro operators identified a manufacturing issue in the steering system in some vehicles, Metro proactively removed 126 buses from service out of its 1,500-vehicle fleet,” the announcement reads. “The identified problem did not lead to any accidents or injuries. Metro inspected all its buses to ensure all vehicles in service continue to perform safely and within specifications.”
Metro is advising riders to double check its trip planning tools.
In September, CHS reported on Metro’s across the system route cutbacks due to “ongoing workforce shortages.”
UPDATE: Multiple routes have been “temporarily suspended” while Metro sorts out the mechanical issues in its fleet:
Metro is delivering about 90% of its typical 11,000 weekday trips and temporarily suspended 19 bus routes. We apologize for the inconvenience and encourage riders to review transit alerts and real-time tools below before traveling. Temporarily suspended for Dec. 7: routes 9, 15, 17, 18, 29, 55, 56, 57, 64, 111, 114, 121, 125, 162, 177, 214, 301, 304, 330. Due to the fluid nature of the situation, a small number of trips may run on routes that are fully suspended.
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Kudos to the operators who caught the problem, but it’s very, very worrying that it had to come down to drivers to detect a manufacturing problem. Obviously New Flyer and its supplier for this system need to step it up, but it also indicates that Metro’s acceptance testing and maintenance processes are under-resourced and/or mismanaged.
The bus situation has been pretty grim recently. I’ve been stuck waiting for buses that never came multiple times in recent weeks. A crowd of us waited downtown 30+ min for the 550 bus to Bellevue yesterday evening, a route that’s supposed to run every 10 min.