Why do Rome's buses keep catching fire?

[Mikey C]

A nice BBC article about Rome's buses, which seem to be catching fire at an alarming rate, and not due to terrorism.

Bad maintenance and their age is to blame, but seeing that they're Citaros I can't help thinking back to the London Citaro bendy-buses which seemed to burn more often than other types as well, is there a flaw with the Citaro design?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44041597

The blaze on the number 63 bus, which happened on the busy Via del Tritone shopping street in the city centre on Tuesday, was the ninth this year and follows 22 last year....

The transport authority said the Mercedes Citaro bus that caught fire in Via del Tritone dated from 2003 ....

 

[gingerheid]

I clicked on this link wondering if they were Citaros...

 

[Mikey C]

Some interesting stats in this Reuters article. I don't know how many of their buses are Citaros though

According to an internal Atac report, 36 percent of all the company’s buses are in garages because they have broken down or are undergoing maintenance, with the figure rising to 50 percent for the city’s creaking fleet of trams.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...k-day-for-rome-transport-system-idUSKBN1I9134

 

[Bletchleyite]

I clicked on this link wondering if they were Citaros...

Certainly the one pictured was. I thought the design flaw that caused the London ones to incinerate related to the right hand drive modification, but maybe not?

 

[Tetchytyke]

Bad maintenance and their age is to blame, but seeing that they're Citaros I can't help thinking back to the London Citaro bendy-buses which seemed to burn more often than other types as well

It's bad maintenance, pure and simple. We have older buses than that up here and they don't spontaneously combust.

The Citaro fires were always overstated, there's been plenty of E400s turn into mobile barbecues without comment. But it does start to look like more than coincidence (especially after the recent fire at Stansted).

 

[gingerheid]

There's been at least two Citaro fires in Scotland too.

 

[Deerfold]

Certainly the one pictured was. I thought the design flaw that caused the London ones to incinerate related to the right hand drive modification, but maybe not?

It was - and was identified and fixed (see appendix 5 of this when The Isle of Man were trialling bendybuses).

https://www.gov.im/media/828957/13.1_-_articulated_buses_appendix_2.pdf

 

[Quakkerillo]

There are 250 Citaro buses running around in Brussels since around 2005. There has been 1 that caught fire (in 2017, trying to start up in the depot) according to my research. There have been two other bus fires since 2010, but both of these were Van Hool A300 buses.
I don't know about other circumstances, but the figures from Brussels don't seem to make it look that bad.

 

[Robertj21a]

It's Rome - it will just be poor maintenance.

 

[RJ]

A nice BBC article about Rome's buses, which seem to be catching fire at an alarming rate, and not due to terrorism.

Bad maintenance and their age is to blame, but seeing that they're Citaros I can't help thinking back to the London Citaro bendy-buses which seemed to burn more often than other types as well, is there a flaw with the Citaro design?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44041597

I wouldn't be quick to blame the bus type. Mechanical fires are common in some places, it just doesn't always get picked up on.

If the buses are maintained properly, they shouldn't catch fire.

 

[Bornin1980s]

When did buses start catching fire? Is it some recent technical development?

 

[Strathclyder]

There's been at least two Citaro fires in Scotland too.

The most recent Scottish Citaro to go up was McGill's J3309 (BU06 CTE) on 12th August last year outside Largs on the 904 to Paisley. It succumbed near to where a new crematorium was being built (oh, the irony). From memory, this is the only one of their rather sizable fleet of Citaros to have been completely gutted by fire, unless I'm forgetting another such incident...?

 

[jonesy3001]

Malta public transport citaro BUS 299 caught fire last friday(4/5) in spectacular fashion, driver was hailed a hero for evacuating the bus;
https://bay.com.mt/malta-bus-driver-hailed-a-hero-after-dramatic-fire/
More pics on this link;
https://flic.kr/p/26PdCnF

 

[Mikey C]

It certainly seems more common in modern buses, I guess modern engines run hotter than the old ones?

Either that or it's a cheat by manufacturers to increase sales by making sure a few a removed each year

 

[Swanny200]

A few weeks ago I was told that there was a bus on fire just down the road at Jarrow bus station, was wondering if it was going to be a citaro and yes it was, luckily only driver was on board but still a very scary moment considering how quickly it went up in the videos from it.

 

[Darklord8899]

Lothian Buses in Edinburgh have had some bus fires, the last two I can recall were both Scania Onmicity.

In the summer especialy, the Scanias could be seen to run with the engine covers slightly ajar at the top (I assume to help with extra ventilation)

 

[carlberry]

When did buses start catching fire? Is it some recent technical development?

Buses have always caught fire. Modern buses have made things worse by adding lots of electrical items with associated cabling and the tendency to allow less space between components. I believe there was a specific design flaw on some UK Citaros, in the same way there was a recent recall on Vauxhall Zafiras to deal with their tendency to become mobile barbeques.

If you add poor maintenance to any design which has close tolerances somewhere the result isn't going to be good however, usually, it just results in the bus sitting on the side of the road until a tow truck turns up.

 

[AM9]

... I believe there was a specific design flaw on some UK Citaros, in the same way there was a recent recall on Vauxhall Zafiras to deal with their tendency to become mobile barbeques. ...

I believe that most of the Vauxhall Zafira fires were caused by owners using repairers who replaced a faulty heater fan component with a wrong (non-approved) part, so more a servicing error/shortcut than a design fault.

 

[carlberry]

I believe that most of the Vauxhall Zafira fires were caused by owners using repairers who replaced a faulty heater fan component with a wrong (non-approved) part, so more a servicing error/shortcut than a design fault.

I hadn't heard that and, having close experience of one that had two different recalls for the fault and knowing the amount of negative PR Vauxhall got about the problem I'd have thought they'd have mentioned it.
To bring it back on topic however the same kind of thing applies with after market fitting of stuff like iBus or USB which has to be put somewhere (and, obviously, somebody will have identified a safe place to put it) however the end result is going to be more stuff to go wrong and less space.

 

[Deerfold]

I hadn't heard that and, having close experience of one that had two different recalls for the fault and knowing the amount of negative PR Vauxhall got about the problem I'd have thought they'd have mentioned it.
To bring it back on topic however the same kind of thing applies with after market fitting of stuff like iBus or USB which has to be put somewhere (and, obviously, somebody will have identified a safe place to put it) however the end result is going to be more stuff to go wrong and less space.

After the initial installs, all iBus installs have been done by the manufacturer.

 

[ChrisPJ]

I believe that most of the Vauxhall Zafira fires were caused by owners using repairers who replaced a faulty heater fan component with a wrong (non-approved) part, so more a servicing error/shortcut than a design fault.

Wasn't it water ingress leading indirectly to a thermal fuse blowing on the Zafira? The design flaw being the water ingress not the fuse which wasnt always repaired correctly.

What is the specific Citaro issue?

 

[90019]

Lothian Buses in Edinburgh have had some bus fires, the last two I can recall were both Scania Onmicity.

Just the one Omnicity, the others in recent times were a Trident and two B9s - though the Volvos were arson.

 

[bussnapperwm]

There's been at least two Citaro fires in Scotland too.

At one stage in the Midlands, West Midlands Fire were putting out fires of the Merc O405N model every 2-3 weeks.

And then there was the one that, only a few years old, almost took West Bromwich depot with it.

Nowadays round here it seems to be one of the diamond bus fleet either becoming grilled, or losing a wheel

 

[Gostav]

I find rear engine bus is more easy to fire than front engine bus.

 

[Busaholic]

I find rear engine bus is more easy to fire than front engine bus.

Is that from the Arsonist's Cookbook?!