About 600 city buses across Quebec have been taken off the roads for what officials are calling “safety reasons.”
The Nova Bus company, a manufacturer from Saint-Eustache, has asked transit authorities to pull the vehicles due to a technical problem.
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“This is exceptional, what’s happening. Those are new hybrid buses that have been in the fleet for a while and has nothing to do with the power train, the engine and the batteries,” said Marc-André Varin, the association’s general manager.
“You could eventually lose the power steering on some of the vehicles.”
The company, owned by Volvo Buses, said it wants the buses to be inspected, as they were hybrids delivered between 2016 and 2019 to nine of the province’s largest cities.
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The problem has apparently been identified as something to do with the steering mechanism, but the parts have not yet arrived to carry out the necessary repairs.
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Montreal had to take more than 280 Nova buses off its streets; Laval had to remove 83 and Longueuil pulled 66.
Other cities affected include Quebec City, Outaouais, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Lévis and Trois-Rivières, for a total of 610 buses.
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In the meantime, the company says temporary repairs will be made so the buses can return to service.
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The recall is a further blow to the STM, where there have been massive shortages of buses on the roads.
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“They are not meeting their daily requirement for buses needed to meet their planned rush hour service.”
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Commuters are being asked to check transit authority websites for any service disruptions.