A double-decker bus caught fire during the Tuesday morning commute in Ottawa, closing down the transitway in both directions at Queensway station for several hours.
Ottawa Fire responded to a call at 7:44 a.m. for a double-decker bus on fire at Queensway Station. The fire was under control shortly after and was fully put out by 8:10 a.m. None of the passengers on board were injured.
According to the city, the bus operator followed protocol and immediately notified the Transit Operations Control Centre about the fire on the bus. The transitway was closed in both directions at the station for several hours and buses had to be detoured causing delays.
All of the passengers on the bus were evacuated from the bus safely and another bus was dispatched to pick them up at the scene.
An OC Transpo special constable helped passengers evacuate the bus and as a result suffered minor smoke inhalation.
Some bus riders voiced concern about the safety of double-decker buses on social media. This was in response to the involvement of another double-decker bus in an emergency situation.
Earlier this month, three people were killed when a double-decker bus slammed into the Westboro bus station and in 2013, six people were killed when a double-decker bus crashed into a Via Rail train.