A Sydney bus which caught fire on Friday morning did not have a fire safety system installed and has raised pressure on the NSW government to race to have the suppression systems fitted in all public and private buses.
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The city-bound Hillsbus caught fire just before 10am on the M2 near Beecroft Road in Beecroft.
About 30 passengers were safely evacuated from the Route 611 service to Macquarie Park after the engine caught fire. NSW Fire & Rescue crews attended and quickly extinguished the blaze which temporarily blocked all citybound traffic.
The bus did not have an engine bay fire suppression system fitted, a Transport for NSW spokesperson said, despite a public outcry after a bus erupted in flames on the Harbour Bridge in September. The Harbour Bridge fire was the 36th such fire this year.
The government has been under pressure after it was revealed in September that the multi-million dollar contract to retrofit more than 2400 private buses with the safety device had not yet been awarded.
In a statement the transport authority promised to "swiftly respond to any findings" following an investigation by the Office of Transport Safety Investigations.
The Transport for NSW spokesperson said the bus is "one of more than 3700 public and private buses across Sydney, the Illawarra and Hunter which are being retrofitted with fire suppression systems".
While the public bus fittings are expected to be finished this year, private buses fittings would not be complete until August next year, Transport for NSW said.
"Thousands of buses transport our customers each day and they are all required to comply with the strictest of safety standards," Transport for NSW said. "Any bus that doesn't meet the necessary safety requirements won't be allowed to carry passengers until all issues are addressed.
"Engine bay fire suppression systems offer customers another layer of safety and our priority is to ensure all regular passenger buses are installed with this technology before the end of August next year."
Labor's Transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said the government needs to do more to reassure the public about the safety of the city's buses.
"This is another wake-up call for the government that it needs to fast track and retrofit fire suppression systems to all buses. How many bus fires do we need to have before this Government takes the issue seriously?" Ms McKay said.
The Rail Tram & Bus Union slammed the government for its "inaction". Divisional secretary Chris Preston said while the government was on track with fitting fire suppression systems on public buses, delays to fitting private buses "has seen another unnecessary bus fire."
"Minister Constance promised over 12 months ago to fit the systems but still no private buses have been done. Let's hope it doesn't take a serious injury before he acts."
More than 2000 buses have been fitted with the safety device.
