A bus caught fire in Brest (Finistère) on Friday shortly after 7:30 am, in the middle of the street.
The vehicle caught fire and the flames also destroyed a shelter near which it was parked.
Damage was noted in apartments and a business located nearby.
According to
Le Télégramme
, the incident started in the engine compartment and it was one of the passengers who alerted the driver.
The latter was able to evacuate the bus, the fuel tank and tires of which then burst.
#Brest a bus on fire rue de verdun 8/10/21 (mechanical incident) no casualties, thanks to the driver's cold blood.
pic.twitter.com/Z92i3HFWmh
- lividic (@lividic) October 8, 2021
While the incident did not claim any victims, it angered the unions.
"Three buses burnt down in eight years, it still seems a lot to me," pleaded on France Bleu Breizh Izel Luc Daniel, CFDT delegate at Bibus, the Brest Métropole transport network.
According to the union, the bus that caught fire dated from 2009 and had 695,000 km on the odometer.
Counters approaching a million kilometers
Of the 104 diesel coaches still in use by the network, 18 would have between 850,000 and 950,000 km and the oldest would be 16 years old.
Brest Métropole would have decided to bet on electric vehicles to replace its fleet, but these new buses would arrive too slowly.
"An investigation is open to determine the exact origin of this fire", indicates the management of Bibus about the incident of last Friday.
The engine parts are to be analyzed by experts, the results of which will not be known until October 20.
A strike notice was filed by the CFDT from this Friday, October 15 and for three months.
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Bordeaux
Bordeaux: The metropolis will acquire two hydrogen buses for a full-scale test on its network
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Brest
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Transport