A fire on a parked electric Chapel Hill Transit bus on Tuesday is causing the local transit system to hold its other electric buses out of service for the time being.

A statement shared by Town of Chapel Hill Media Relations Manager Alex Carrasquillo said the Chapel Hill Fire Department responded to a fire in the parking lot of the Chapel Hill Transit facility at 6900 Millhouse Road at 2:47 p.m. No one reported injuries from the fire and damage was contained to the lone bus, he said.

Carrasquillo also confirmed to Chapelboro the bus in question was last operative on Monday, Nov. 4.

Chapel Hill Transit has ten other electric buses in its fleet and the vehicles will not be run on routes “out of an abundance of caution” until crews learn more about the cause of the fire, which the town said is under investigation. This is the first time one of Chapel Hill Transit’s electric buses has ever caught fire or been damaged by a fire, says the town.

While the buses are out of service rotation, the town government does not believe there will be any service impact to riders, according to Carrasquillo.

All real-time information and details on Chapel Hill Transit routes can be found on the system’s Transit Routes and Schedules webpage and the Transit app.

 

Photo via Brian Litchfield/Chapel Hill Transit.

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