County Pulls 26 Ride On Buses After Latest Fire

After yet another Ride On bus fire, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has ordered the 26 remaining Ride On Champion model buses permanently removed from service.

The most recent fire occurred Wednesday at Bonifant Street and Ramsey Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, NBC reported. It was the second this month and the seventh in three years.

Ride On will operate on a reduced schedule Thursday and Friday, as it does on holidays. All routes will have service, but buses will run less frequently.

There are three changes to the posted holiday schedule for Thursday and Friday:

• Route 2 will provide service to Walter Reed
• Route 38 will provide service to the U.S. Postal Training Academy 
• Route 54 will provide service to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).

"We are very fortunate that no one was injured in today’s fire and there were no passengers on the out-of-service bus," Leggett said in a statement. 

The county has replaced some of the buses, Leggett said. More will be replaced by the end of August.

"The bottom line is—removing the buses from service is the right thing to do to ensure the safety of the public and our bus drivers," Leggett said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced in April that it was . While the buses under investigation have bodies built by Champion Bus, Inc., the investigation focuses on Navistar International Corporation, which built the chassis, NHTSA said.

The following is a timeline of the seven fires, based on media reports:

• 2009: Exact date and details unknown.
• Sept. 8, 2010: In the 8400 block of Colesville Road, in Silver Spring. It involved a stuck brake shoe, David Dise, director of the county’s Department of General Services, told The Examiner.
• Dec. 30, 2010: WTOP captured video of a bus on fire on Marinelli Road near the White Flint Metro station in North Bethesda. The Examiner reported a pinched brake line was the cause.
• Dec. 27, 2011: Goldsboro Road and Massachusetts Avenue near Glen Echo. The fire, at the front of the bus near its engine, appeared to have been caused by water leaking into the bus' electrical system, Dise told The Examiner.
• : Oak Leaf Drive and Columbia Pike in White Oak. The , a fire spokesman told 
• March 20: Georgia Avenue near the Glenmont Metro station. The fires started in the engine compartment, NBC4 reported.
• July 18: Bonifant Street and Ramsey Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, NBC reported.

Will you be taking Ride On to and from work on Thursday and Friday? Tell us in the comments.