Bus Drivers Agree to Lift Ban, State Transit Says Buses are ‘Safe’

The bus drivers union agreed on Tuesday night to an Industrial Relations Commission order to lift a ban on gas-powered buses in Sydney.

The explosion of a gas-powered bus prompted public bus drivers to raise their protest by refusing to get on the road, resulting in huge inconvenience among Sydney passengers at peak hour Tuesday.

The union said the decision to ban the buses was made after the group saw a video of an incident involving a bus explosion in July. The mobile phone footage shows firefighters standing back as a large object burns wildly, as reported by the ABC news.

"Today a member of the public came in with a video... The bus actually explodes. It's dangerous. It nearly hit a car travelling past at the same time," union secretary Chris Preston said.

The State Transit Authority (STA) took the matter to the IRC Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to end the action. The Transport Management Centre then said in the afternoon that Sydney Buses services will be back to normal at night after the IRC meeting.

RTBU divisional president Chris Preston says the union is sorry for disruptions, ABC reported.

"We apologise for the disruptions, but if you have seen the footage we have seen, would you want to be on that bus?" he said.

Another divisional president, Gary Way, said the union was still worried over safety issues.

"The commissioner is not happy with the (STA) explanation that the buses are completely safe," he told reporters.

Way rejected claims by the NSW government that the unions were using the issue to support its pay dispute case.

"The minister can play politics all she likes; our main priority, our only priority today is for the safety of our members and the travelling public," he said.

For his part, STA acting CEO Bruce Eldridge says all buses were completely safe, and the cause of the July explosion was still being investigated, although he claimed it was not because of a gas problem.

"We inspect the buses weekly. We know they are safe... They've been in service for three years," he told ABC.