Saskatoon buses hit by fire, theft and mechanical woes
A weekend to put in the rear-view mirror for Saskatoon Transit
It started with a fire on a city bus on Friday night.
Just after 6 p.m. CST, fire crews were called to 115th Street with reports that a city bus had caught fire. They arrived to find smoke and flames coming from the bus.
The driver and passengers had managed to make it off safely. Firefighters had the flames out shortly after arriving. There was a trail of debris and oil behind the bus.
The initial investigation suggests a mechanical failure as the possible cause.
More trouble on Saturday
A different sort of trouble hit the transit service on Saturday morning.
That's when city police said a nine-year-old boy stole an idling city bus from near the transit garages on the 300 block of 24th Street West.
I just thought, follow the bus and try to stop it.- Michael Pritchard
Witnesses watched the bus travel for a couple blocks before the pint-sized driver hung up the bus on the curb at the corner of Idylwyld Drive and 25th Street. Passerby Michael Pritchard was following the bus and managed to get the boy out when it stopped.
"When [the boy] stopped I kind of pulled in front and got so he couldn't go nowhere. And then I told him, get out of the bus," Pritchard said.
A parked city bus and a car where both hit during the joyride but no one was hurt.
According to city officials, the bus was being repaired when it was stolen.
Service disruptions continuing
The latest update on the city's website says that bus routes will continue to be disrupted going into this week. The transit union says that ongoing problems in getting qualified mechanics is limiting the number of buses that it can keep on the road.
This has forced the cancellation of direct routes downtown and to the university. Transit has set up collection points at Confederation Park and The Centre malls for high school students.