This morning's fire in the municipal warehouse of the Municipal Buses has caused a significant delay in the regular line service, since only 3 of the 5 buses that usually operate at the same time have been able to start the routes.
Those three buses were in the workshop, and thanks to that they have been spared from the fire and have been able to start the service at 08:00, with an hour and a half delay. Of the other 6 vehicles that the Arrecife City Council has in the warehouse, two have been burned and four impregnated by soot and ash from the fire, so they have to undergo a thorough cleaning.
“The technicians are working on cleaning two buses, and the idea is that as soon as they are operational, they will be incorporated to recover 100% of the service,” the Councilor for Mobility, Ángela Hernández, told La Voz.
Once these two vehicles are cleaned, to recover operability, the City Council workers will begin cleaning the rest of the buses. In any case, Hernández also highlighted that the problem of the number of vehicles would not exist during the weekend, since only 3 buses operate simultaneously on Saturdays and Sundays.
The councilor points out that there are “several people” cleaning the buses, but that since it is not a “usual” cleaning, due to the consequences of the fire, the setting up of the vehicles has been delayed.In addition, Ángela Hernández pointed out that, from the first hour of the morning, the person in charge of the Municipal Buses has moved through the bus stops in the city, to notify users who were waiting that the service “was going to be delayed”. “So they weren't waiting, because there are many people who use the bus to go to work.”
The Councilor for Mobility emphasizes that one of the buses that has been completely burned has been the minibus, which usually covered the “Radial 10”, a line that passed through the center of Arrecife. However, the councilor assures that they will “look for a way” to acquire two other buses to replace the burned ones, even though in the future they will receive “three electric buses” that will be incorporated into the service.