‘Steering column issue’ grounds some King County Metro buses

King County Metro removed 126 buses from its 1,500-bus fleet a week ago because of steering manufacturing issues.

Al Sanders, Public Information Officer with King County Metro, said they immediately brought in the buses when the issue was brought to their attention.

“We had two operators — one in late October and one in early November — [who] mentioned to our maintenance staff that they had seen an issue with the steering column,” Sanders said. “We immediately brought in all of our 1,500 coaches to check and see what the issue was. It has been isolated to 126 coaches.”

King County Metro pulls 8% of bus fleet for steering issues

Since then, Public Information Officer Elaine Porterfield told us that out of the 126 buses, three have been repaired and are back on the road.

“We are delivering about 95% of our eleven-thousand weekday trips,” she said. “And all of our buses on the road are operating safely right now. It is a day-to-day situation.”

Metro still doesn’t have a timeline on when all the buses will return to service, however they are working with New Flier to correct the issues and get buses back out on the road quickly and safely.

Unfortunately, many routes are seeing some runs cut each day.

Always check your route before traveling. We have tools to keep you moving!

⚠️Service advisorieshttps://t.co/96rPgzLPdM

📲Check your trip by texting the stop number to 62550

🗺️Look up your bus stop in the Next Departures feature in Metro’s Trip Plannerhttps://t.co/H6YrrHkJSR

— King County Metro Transit Alerts 🚏🚍⚠️ (@kcmetroalerts) December 9, 2022

The Route 113 trip to Shorewood scheduled at 4:00 PM from 2nd Ave & Bell St (SB) is not operating today. Check your trip: Text your stop number to 62550 or look up your stop in Metro’s Online Next Departures tool: https://t.co/Q1BFIPUlsr

— King County Metro Transit Alerts 🚏🚍⚠️ (@kcmetroalerts) December 13, 2022

RapidRide D Ln trip to Ballard at 2:48pm from Prefontaine Pl S & Yesler Wy & 2 other trips are not operating today. Check your trip: Text your stop number to 62550 or look up your stop in Metro’s Online Next Departures tool: https://t.co/Q1BFIPUlsr

— King County Metro Transit Alerts 🚏🚍⚠️ (@kcmetroalerts) December 13, 2022

It’s advised the Metro riders check social media before they head out, otherwise, they could be left standing in the cold.

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