K'Boom! 2: The Re-explodening
Wellington is now the place to be for flaming vehicles, and it's not just cars. Now even buses explode!
A bus to Karori caught fire tonight as it carried tired commuters home. Like petrol-guzzlers needed more excuses to not take public transport.
"It was crazy really."
That's an actual quote, by the way.
And for those keeping score, it was a number 3 bus.
I like the quote from Stuff's passenger witness:
"People were right up next to it looking but I kept back because you don't know what's going to happen. It could've blown."
Whoa! It could have "blown" - just like in the movies! There would have been a massive flaming fireball, causing most of the onlookers to run away screaming, but for one supercool dude, who'd calmly walk away.
But srsly, this is interesting news. There have been a couple of Auckland buses that have caught alight over the past few years - it would be interesting to know if this was the same type of bus.
Sas asked me to give you the details. It was bus 653, a MAN 11.190 low-floor diesel bus, built in 1996 by Designline of Ashburton. Its registration number was UL 5060.
It is very sad that I know things like this, my daughter says.
Don't worry about what she says; other people find such things incredibly sexy. Takes all-sorts, huh.
Photos of an Auckland bus that caught fire in 2006:
http://www.nzpaimages.co.nz/events.php?event_id=686
I wonder if it's the same type as the Wellington one.
No, a completely different model. In fact the Auckland bus in your photo is much newer than the Wellington one that caught fire.
The problems are similar though. These low-floor buses all have the engines crammed in the very back, behind the rear seat, and the heat from them can melt and set alight plastic fuel hoses and other combustible fittings.
Quick - read the article and tell me if the driver was a man or a woman. Are you sure? It appears that the journalist wasn't so sure. But, hey... who needs editors anyway?