King County Metro has returned nearly two-thirds of buses to service that were pulled in December to replace their steering column.
Two of the agency’s bus operators reported loose steering on vehicles late last year. King County Metro identified 126 buses with steering issues, which resulted in those vehicles being pulled from service on Dec. 6. Later in the month, a recall was issued for certain 35-foot, 40-foot and 60-foot New Flyer of America, Inc., transit buses due to a loose steering shaft that could cause a loss of steering. King County Metro expanded its review to all New Flyer buses in its fleet and determined 208 required steering column replacements.
The agency credits guidance and replacement parts provided by New Flyer, as well as its vehicle maintenance staff’s efforts with returning 147 of the pulled buses to service as of Jan. 12. There are still 61 waiting repairs.
“While we continue to operate about 94 percent of our scheduled service, some bus routes and trips remain temporarily suspended due to limited fleet and operator availability at some of our bases,” the agency noted in a blog post. “We expect that service levels will continue to improve as we repair our fleet and safely return more coaches to the road.”
