Rome bus fires

This item appears on page 55 of the July 2018 issue.

A city bus in Rome, Italy, burst into flames on May 8, slightly injuring one person and completely destroying the bus. The fire was believed to have been caused by a short circuit. It was the ninth city-bus fire in Rome in 2018. In 2017 there were 22 bus fires in the city. There were no injuries in any of the other fires.

Atac, the company that operates Rome’s city buses and most of Italy’s public transportation, is investigating the fires. As of press time, a third of Atac’s buses were in the shop for repairs, including about half of their buses in Rome.