"We took the proactive steps," Greene said.
The MTA's effort to fix the affected buses has been complicated by the fact that the manufacturer of the brake parts has gone out of business, Greene said. She said some of the same parts have also been installed on the MTA's 219 New Flyer buses but have not been linked to fires on those buses.
About 50 North American Bus Industries vehicles - out of a total fleet of 669 - remain off the streets until scarce replacement brake discs can be obtained from vendors.
"These brake parts are in high demand nationwide," Greene said. "We've been working around the clock to get these parts on."
Wiedefeld said the MTA has had eight bus fires so far this year. He added that in recent years totals have ranged from three in 2005 to 12 in 2004. He said the numbers are not out of line for an agency that does 386,000 bus pullouts - in which a vehicle leaves its depot - each year.
"Fires are rare, but they do happen in the transit industry," he said. He said the MTA would do all it could to recoup its costs from the vendor of the faulty brake parts.
Before the two fires linked to the brake defect, the most recent bus blaze occurred May 30 near the Patapsco light rail station. Greene said that in that instance, an empty bus was being towed to the Northwest Division when it caught fire.
The cause of that fire was an undetected flat in the inside tire of a pair, she said.
michael.dresser@baltsun.com
