OC Transpo reports 35 bus fires over 18 years, 10 buses decommissioned

An OC Transpo bus with a "Not in service" sign is seen in this undated image. (CTV News Ottawa)

Ten OC Transpo buses have been decommissioned over the past 18 years due to fires, according to new data.

Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr asked OC Transpo for statistics on fires aboard conventional buses, as the transit service dealt with a shortage of available buses. Hundreds of bus trips were cancelled each week in January, February and March due to an aging bus fleet, a maintenance backlog and delays in delivering new buses.

In response to the inquiry, OC Transpo said there were 35 fires onboard OC Transpo buses between 2008 and 2026, including one fire in January and two in 2025.

There were 10 fires on buses in 2011 and five in 2012.

“The spike in thermal incidents in 2011 and 2012 was largely driven by two fleet-specific factors,” staff said.

“In 2011, about half of the events involved 5- to 7-year-old Invero buses, where age-related loosening of components and improperly routed or secured cables increased the risk of chafing and overheating in the engine bay. Most of the remaining incidents involved Orion VI buses that were already at or near end of life and experiencing a range of equipment failures, including several battery equalizer failures.”

Four of the five bus fires in 2012 were linked to “battery equalized failures, resulting in melted wiring around the units,” staff said.

Twenty-eight buses were repaired and returned to service following fires between 2008 and 2026, and six buses were decommissioned. Of the decommissioned buses, one was taken out of service in 2024 due to a fire and one bus in 2022 was removed from the fleet.

Buses in the fleet

OC Transpo has more buses available for service this spring as new zero-emission buses arrive in Ottawa.

Transit Services associate general manager Troy Charter reported on Friday that an average of 560 buses were available for weekday service the week of April 26, up from 545 buses the week before.

During the week of April 26 to May 2, 99.5 per cent of bus trips were delivered, and there were 275 undelivered bus trips. OC Transpo cancelled 401 bus trips the week of April 19 to 25.

OC Transpo now has 107 zero-emission buses available for service.

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