Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett ordered a group of Ride On buses out of service Wednesday hours after a bus caught fire, the seventh such vehicle in the fleet to do so in the past three years.
The Ride On bus was out of service on Ramsey Avenue between Bonifant and Wayne avenues, with only its driver aboard, when the fire occurred, county spokeswoman Esther Bowring said. The driver smelled smoke and exited before the bus caught fire, and no one was injured, she said.
The county had been in the process of replacing these models in its fleet following bus fires that prompted a federal safety investigation and a union grievance by drivers.
“We are very fortunate that no one was injured in today’s fire and there were no passengers on the out-of-service bus,” Leggett said in a written statement. He said the county expected to replace the remaining Navistar Champion buses by the end of August.
