About 225 accordion-style buses that the CTA removed from service in February after cracks and other structural defects were found will not be returned to the streets of Chicago, transit officials said Thursday.
Among the issues still to be resolved is how many millions of dollars in losses the CTA, the bus maker and taxpayers will be on the hook for in the $102.1 million deal gone sour.
The CTA and the manufacturer, North American Bus Industries Inc., continue to battle each other in Cook County Circuit Court. Lawsuits were filed after negotiations reached an impasse several years ago.
Hours after receiving inquiries from the Tribune on Thursday, the bus maker issued a voluntary recall aimed at inspecting and repairing the CTA buses. The company said it had been denied an opportunity to “fully inspect” the CTA buses pulled from service two months ago.
The CTA still plans to return the buses to the Alabama-based manufacturer, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said.
“Given the six-year performance history of these buses, concerns about their long-term structural integrity and ongoing litigation with the manufacturer, it does not make sense to expend any more of our limited resources on these buses,” Rodriguez said.
He said he was suspicious of the company’s recall offer, calling it an attempt at “damage control.”
The buses are experiencing frame cracks and widespread failures of various structural components that should not occur in vehicles averaging about 4 years old and with relatively low mileage, agency officials said.
Particularly during rush periods, the CTA and its customers have been forced to make do with fewer buses and longer waits at bus stops. The delivery of about 75 new buses from another manufacturer is easing the shortage, along with the purchase of an additional 58 articulated hybrid buses using federal stimulus money, Rodriguez said.
Structural failures started showing up at 65,000 miles on some of the problem buses that were previously put through a “shaker table” designed to simulate 100,000 miles of street conditions, according to CTA documents obtained by the Tribune.
“We knew the CTA was buying a lemon when they bought these buses,” said Darrell Jefferson, president of the CTA bus drivers union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241.
The CTA hired a consultant in February to examine some of the sidelined vehicles after one bus suffered a complete structural failure while it was being driven into a bus garage. The break occurred in the articulation joint that connects the two sections of the bus.
The consultant’s analysis of other buses revealed serious cracks in vehicle frames, rear doors and floors as well as other deficiencies, officials said.
Before the CTA could consider returning any of the buses to service, each vehicle’s chassis would need to be disassembled and inspected — taking up to 80 hours per bus and costing almost $900,000 for the fleet, Rodriguez said. Repairs and materials would be extra expenses, he said.
The problems uncovered go far beyond the worst-case scenario anticipated in 2003 when multiple small frame cracks were first found on one test bus delivered to the CTA by the manufacturer, based in Anniston, Ala.
The CTA conditionally accepted the buses based on assurances from the manufacturer that defects previously identified had been corrected before delivery of the $102 million order. But the CTA said that commitment was not met, and that some of the later failures found subsequently reoccurred after initial repairs were made.
The CTA stopped making payments on the contract in 2004, and the bus maker filed a breach of contract lawsuit last year. The CTA counter-sued, arguing the manufacturer failed to meet contractual requirements.
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By the numbers
60
Length of the buses removed from service, in feet.
12
Years of service life originally promised.
500K
Miles of service life originally promised.
2,000
Number of buses in the CTA’s fleet.
10%
Amount lost due to problems with the buses.
