SPRINGDALE -- Ozark Regional Transit expects to have all its bus routes running with none combined beginning Monday morning, officials with the public transit provider said late Friday.
"We are 100 percent complete in fielding all of the buses necessary to provide regular service to all of our routes," said Joel Gardner, executive director.
An early morning fire Jan. 10 engulfed 20 buses, leaving most of the fixed route fleet a pile of charred, smoldering wrecks. Only four buses, which all were elsewhere for maintenance, weren't damaged.
Loaner buses rolled in from organizations around the state, region and country to fill the need. ORT had most routes back in service with loner buses within days of the fire, although some routes had to be combined and others reduced.
"We have had something on every route throughout this week but some routes were sharing a bus," Gardner said. "Our maintenance crew has worked literally overtime to get all of these buses inspected and ensure that they're meeting the standards of safety that we have, and they're going to put a bus on every route as if nothing ever happened. Now, they're going to look different than what people are used to, but we've got the buses out there."
Crews are working to pick up additional buses to replace some loaned by other organizations who need them back, Gardner said.
Gardner said fire inspectors haven't yet told him what caused the fire, and they're expected back on site for further work over the next couple of weeks. Insurance adjusters were given the go-ahead to begin identifying the buses that were involved but it's expected to be some time before permanent replacements are acquired.
"We've provided them with a schematic of what we believe was in there but he'll actually be able to go in there and take a physical look at them," Gardner said. "So, he's going to be working very gingerly through the identification process. Hopefully we can get them identified and continue to move forward there. But, we're still weeks out from a cause, I think."
NW News on 01/22/2017